Meeting Alex
by Grace Raven
Summary: If you read my story Confronting a Painful Past, then you would know I added my OC character Alex to the plus anima gang. This story is about when the group met him and digs through his past a little. Plus Anima. No pairings but there is slight HuskyxNana
1. The Beginning

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX.

**Chapter 1**

Grace Raven: This chapter in Cooro's point of view.

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I sat quietly in the carriage we were using to cross through the town at night. According to Alex, if you walk around in _this _town at night you're likely to get mugged so we got us a carriage to take us back to the hotel we were staying in.

Nana had fallen asleep and her head was resting on Husky's shoulder, which he had blushed about at first but was dealing with it, Senri was looking through his book of pressed flowers, and Alex was drawing. He had gotten a drawing pad and etc. recently and had been drawing and coloring in his creations ever since.

Alex was the only non-plus anima in our group and yet he had the worst past. We didn't know much, but we did know his parents had died when he was five and his six twin siblings usually left him to watch over any home they found while they went looking for an even better one. That was really all we actually knew about Alex and his family. We didn't know about people he met in his travels or any towns traveled in. We didn't know where he got his staff, how he learned to use his sword, or where he had learned all the martial arts he knew. We barely knew anything about Alex, and don't get me started about how we had technically never seen his whole body under his cloak and cape. Just thinking about Alex reminds me of the time we first met him.

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_**Flashback**_** ( ****one year ago. Here's where our story begins)**

"Nana, are you sure you can't hear anything?" I asked and Nana turned to me, her bat ears out.

"I just told you no, now stop asking," Nana said and retracted her bat ears.

"All I wanted was to find a place to stay so you wouldn't complain. Just try again, _please_?" I asked, using my puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," Nana said and redrew her bat ears. She picked a spot and screamed then listened for sounds.

Her ears twitched and she turned around, pointed in the direction she screamed, and said, "I heard something town-like in that direction."

"Well it must be a town," Husky said sarcastically.

"Shut it, Husky," Nana said and walked to the town-like sound with Senri following.

"What is up with her today?" Husky asked and followed Nana and Senri.

I shrugged my shoulders and ran to catch up with my fellow plus anima.

--

Grace Raven: Stopping chapter here, hope you liked. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	2. Jerry and Danny

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX.

**Chapter 2**

Responses to reviews

Twilinden: Fine, I'll put in a little NanaxHusky. But it shall be small.

Princess Falling Star: Thank you.

Grace Raven quick note: I've set the story at the time sometime after they met each other. They know nothing of the others past, except for Nana who has already told everyone. Also, it's the middle of fall.

--

"I'm so hungry. Can't we buy some food? Mainly apples?" Cooro whined and clutched his hungry stomach.

Husky whacked Cooro on the head with his new found staff and said, "Cooro, we have no money. We have to find jobs first."

Nana dramatically sighed and said, "And I was hoping we wouldn't have to sleep in the woods again tonight. I want to sleep on a soft bed for once. I hate camping!"

"Nana, don't make me repeat myself. We… have… no… money," Husky said slowly, treating Nana like an idiot.

Nana pinched him roughly in the arm, which he visibly winced about, and said, "You should be more considerate to girls."

Husky began to rub his arm and said, "Didn't I tell you I hate girls?"

Nana punched Husky in the head and said, "Shut it, Husky." Saying the words through her teeth, Nana began to walk off.

"Really, what's wrong with her? She's been in a bad mood ever since we left the last town," Husky said, rubbing his injured head.

"Why do you think I was insisting we find a town?" Cooro asked.

"What?" Husky questioned back.

"She was complaining of how we have to camp all the time, so I decided we find a town as soon as possible so she could sleep on a soft bed."

"Are you just pretending to be dumb, because that idea was actually smart," Husky said, dumbfounded.

"I'm just trying to be nice," Cooro said and followed after the angry Nana.

"I swear, he's just pretending to be dumb," Husky said and ran after Cooro. Senri stood blankly and then tried to catch a butterfly flying by. Husky then grabbed Senri by the shirt and ran after his two friends.

"Where are we?" Cooro asked a couple hours later.

"I don't know, probably the far side of town," Husky said and looked around.

"We have to find jobs so no worrying where we are," Nana said and began to walk forward, only to bump into someone.

"Watch where you're going, girly. Or else you might fall into a deep hole," a boy said. Nana looked up and saw the person she bumped into had spiky red hair and hazel brown eyes. She also saw a boy standing next to him with the same color hair and eyes except his hair hung down instead of spiked up.

"You're kinda cute for a little girl. What's your name?" the boy with the hanging hair asked and put his hand under Nana's chin and brought her face up to his.

Nana slapped away his hand and said, "Nana, and you?"

"I'm Jerry, short for Jeremiah," the boy with the spiky hair said.

"And I'm Danny, short for Daniel," the boy with hanging hair said.

"Well I'm Cooro and the one who looks like a girl is Husky and the tall guy is Senri."

"So Husky, are you male or female?" Jerry asked.

"I'm a guy," Husky said and Nana slapped the back of his head.

"Excuse my friend, he has anger issues," Nana said sweetly.

"What a nice little girl. I bet in five years you'd be pretty hot," Jerry said and tried to put his arm behind Nana's waist.

Husky's staff slapped away Jerry's hand and Husky said coldly, "Sorry, it slipped."

"Sorry, bro. Looks like the cutie's taken," Danny said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cooro asked innocently.

"It means that it seems like Husky and Nana are boyfriend and girlfriend," Danny said.

Both Husky and Nana blushed madly and the two yelled together, "He/she's not my boyfriend/girlfriend!"

"With the way you're acting, it's hard not to think that," a male voice said from behind them.

They all turned to the voice and saw a guy probably in his mid-teens. He was wearing a long, dark blue cloak with yellow, rectangle-shaped buttons on the upper section of the cloak with a collar that covered up half of his face and circled around his head. Over his eyes, he wore goggles with darkened lens. Where his hair was supposed to be was a blue bandanna and what looked like a second bandanna worn as to cover the back of his head.

"Their business is none of yours, Alex," Jerry said meanly.

"Last time I checked, it also wasn't yours. But it doesn't seem to be stopping you, Jerry," Alex said neutrally.

"Why don't you just leave us be?" Danny asked.

"Because I can't until I finish my business here," Alex said.

"What's your business here?" Jerry asked.

Alex held out money and said, "The weather has been bad lately and I'm pretty sure it's going to rain, I know you guys have been short on cash so this is for umbrellas."

Danny took the money and counted it and said, "This is way too much for umbrellas. It's even more than if we get umbrellas for the whole family."

"I know. The rest is for food," Alex said nicely.

Danny threw the money at Alex and Jerry said, "Like we want _your _money, Alex. We can take care of ourselves without the likes of _you_ helping."

Alex picked up the money and said, "Fine, do what you want." He then looked at Cooro and company and asked, "Are you guys traveling?"

"Yeah," Cooro answered.

Alex gave Cooro the money and said, "Then you guys take this. It should be enough to pay for whatever you need."

Husky took the money, counted it, and said dumbfounded, "This is over five-hundred gillah!"

"I know," Alex said.

"But, don't you need the money for yourself?" Nana asked.

"I get enough money where I work for how I live. I don't have anyone who lives with me and I don't need much, so giving away five hundred gillah is nothing important for me," Alex said.

"Wow, thanks a lot! We needed this," Cooro said excitingly.

"It was no problem. Well, I have to go now. Have a good day," Alex said and walked away.

When Alex left, Jerry said, "Damn that Alex."

"What? He didn't do anything wrong. He even gave us some money," Cooro said.

"Don't be fooled by his nice appearance. Underneath all that niceness is nothing but a demon," Danny said coldly.

"What? Are you sure?" Nana asked worriedly.

"Well he's not really a demon, but he always hides what he looks like under that cloak of his," Jerry said.

"Just because of that, you guys hate him?" Husky asked.

"No, I heard that if you get him angry, he'll hurt you," Danny said.

"Really?" Nana asked scared.

"Yeah, and I also heard the reason his siblings left him in this town and the reason his parents weren't with them when they came here was because he scared them," Jerry said.

"So Alex didn't come to this town alone?" Husky asked.

"Yeah, he came with his four sisters and two brothers," Danny answered.

"I don't believe someone so nice could chase away his family," Cooro said and watched what was left of Alex walk away.

"Well believe it. He's even worse than plus anima," Jerry said and they all perked.

"You… hate plus anima?" Senri said blandly.

"We don't hate them, they're just always thought of as monster and when it comes to Alex, he's the worst monster of all," Danny said and walked the other way with his brother.

Cooro grabbed his shoulders, Husky began to rub his neck, Senri grabbed his left arm, and Nana chafed her hands. They were all plus anima, always thought of as monsters and they were just reminded of it. But it wasn't that they were called monsters that had gotten them, it was the fact that Alex was being called worst than their kind. Making them all worry.

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Grace Raven: End chapter. Why do Jerry and Danny hate Alex and call him a monster? You'll find out soon if you keep reading. Next chapter will be really short, sorry. But I want to make this story as many chapters as possible. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	3. Carrie, Rain, and Umbrellas

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX.

**Chapter 3**

Responses to reviews:

Twilinden: Don't get me wrong, I'm only putting it in here because I know you're probably gonna annoy me until I put some NanaxHusky in here.

shadow793: I'm very glad you like my stories.

Cooro, Husky, Senri and Nana continued their search for jobs, being unsuccessful in the matter. They decided to find a hotel or an abandoned house to sleep in when they came across a giant ocean.

"I had no idea this was here," Nana said.

"Yeah, me neither. If the ocean was here, why isn't it beach city?" Husky asked.

"Because a monster lives there," a female voice said.

They turned around to see a young girl around fifteen standing behind them. She had short brown hair and sparkly green eyes.

"Really?" Cooro asked.

"Yeah, no one knows what it is. But a researcher said it was a giant octopus," the teenage girl said.

"Octopus," Senri said blankly.

"Yeah, I just said," the girl said, and little pissed.

"Excuse Senri, he's kinda blank minded," Nana said.

"What's your name?" Husky asked.

"Carrie," Carrie said sweetly.

"Is the fact that the octopus is here that this place isn't a beach city?" Cooro asked.

"Yeah," Carrie answered sadly.

"What's wrong?" Senri asked.

Carrie blushed a little at Senri's remark and said, "Nothing really, it's just that most of the families here are very poor and depend on customers just to survive. This is a very poverty like town and so not many people come, which hurts our economy a lot. We could make a great amount of money if the octopus wasn't here, but no one has enough courage to face it, so we're stuck like this."

"That's so sad," Nana said sincerely.

"You bet it is," a voice said. They looked and saw Alex holding a paper bag.

"Alex," Carrie said coldly.

"Good evening, Carrie. How's your mom's condition? Any better?" Alex asked.

"Stay out of my family's business, Alex! It's none of your beeswax!" Carrie yelled.

"I was just wondering. We are neighbors," Alex said.

"Well deal with your own family's problems. That is if you have any that actually still talk to you," Carrie said meanly and Alex turned around.

"You kids should really buy yourselves some umbrellas soon. You never know when it might rain," Alex said and walked away.

"Damn him, I hate that guy," Carrie said nastily.

"I still don't see why the people in this town hate him. He hasn't done anything wrong," Cooro said.

"He doesn't belong here. That's why everyone hates him. He never tells anyone anything. Just comes out of his house for work and to buy things and that's it," Carrie said.

"He's just being who he is," Nana said innocently.

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" Carrie yelled and ran away.

They three children and one teenager all looked at each other worriedly. They were starting to wonder if it was a good idea to stay here the next day. After all, the town's people might start to hate them as well. They decided to leave the matter be and started to look for a place to sleep yet again.

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The rain was pouring exceedingly hard, and luck have it Cooro, Husky, Senri, and Nana were stuck in the middle of it, staying close to each other.

Cooro was using the scarf Nana gave him as a shield, Husky was using his cape, Nana was using her hat, and Senri was just using his hands.

"We really should have gotten umbrellas," Nana said sadly.

In response Cooro said, "Your right. We should have listened to Alex."

Husky noticed how upset Nana was getting from being so wet and threw some of his cape over her head. She moved to stand as close to him as possible and helped hold up the cape.

Out of nowhere, they felt the rain not hitting them and they looked up. They were under an umbrella. They looked behind them and saw none other than Alex, who was holding a second umbrella over his own head and a third wrapped around his wrist.

"Didn't I tell you to buy some umbrellas?" Alex asked and gave Senri one of the umbrellas and Husky the other.

Cooro took a place next to Senri and Nana stayed by Husky under the umbrella.

Alex turned around and said, "Come on, I know the perfect place to get out of this rain." He then started to walk forward and the others followed like a herd of sheep.

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Grace Raven: Liked? You should of. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated soon.


	4. Pajamas

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX.

**Chapter 4**

Princess Falling Star: It's okay. And putting in humor is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Twilinden: Yes, yes it should.

Grace Raven: I know the chapter's name is lame, but I couldn't think of anything.

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They trailed behind Alex, wondering where he was taking them.

So Alex couldn't hear, Nana stepped a little closer to Husky and whispered in his ear, "Husky, are you sure we should be following him? I mean, everyone in the village hates him and we don't know a thing about him."

Husky whispered back, "We have no choice. He's the only way we can get out of this rain."

"Fine," she said and crossed her arms. She was obviously not pleased with following a complete stranger.

A flash of lightning struck, followed by thunder, and Nana screamed. Her bat ears popped out and she literally jumped into Husky's arms. To make sure Alex didn't see Nana's bat ears when he turned around, Husky wrapped his arms around Nana's head.

"Nana, are you okay?" Cooro asked worriedly and moved over to Husky and Nana.

Husky released Nana and she nodded. Luckily, her bat ears had retreated.

"Honestly, you people confuse me," Alex said and they looked to him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nana asked, almost yelling.

Alex sighed and said, "There's no time for me to explain that right now. If we continue standing here, the rain will get worse." With that, he began walking again.

Nana took her place next to Husky and Cooro returned to Senri and they followed after Alex.

After almost fifteen minutes, Alex finally stopped in front of what seemed to be an apartment building.

"Sorry it took so long," Alex apologized and started to walk up some stairs on the side of the building.

"Is this your home, Alex?" Husky asked.

"Yeah, this is where I live," Alex answered and opened a door and walked inside. Cooro and Senri followed without a moment's hesitation, Husky and Nana, on the other hand, did the opposite.

They looked at each other for guidance and were interrupted by Alex yelling, "Hey, lovebirds. How long are you going to stand there?"

Both Husky and Nana turned bright red and yelled together, "LOVEBIRDS? What's that supposed to mean?"

"How stupid are you two if you don't know what I mean by lovebirds?" Alex asked.

"Why are you calling us that?" Husky asked, blushing and yelling as he did so.

"You must be an idiot if you don't know. If you two lovebirds don't get in here in the next thirty seconds I'm going to leave you in the rain," Alex said and started to close the door.

"We're not lovebirds!" Husky and Nana exclaimed before rushing through the door.

Inside there was a small, rectangular table near the fireplace and five chairs, four of which were probably set by Cooro and Senri, circling the table. But none of the chairs had their back to the fireplace. There was a hallway with some other rooms, bedrooms and etc. probably, and finally, a kitchen to the right of the living room. Alex removed his goggles and cloak and placed them on a coat rack and walked into the kitchen. Under his cloak was a long, light blue cape that you tied together using string.

"I'll heat up some milk for you guys to drink. Does that sound okay?" Alex asked and opened the refrigerator.

"Yeah, that sounds fine," Husky said and took a seat. (A/N If you want to know how they're sitting next to each other, look at volume 8 chapter 44 when they're sitting in front of Lady Marein. The only change is that Cooro and Senri switch places.)

"The milk is going to take a while, so be patient," Alex said and turned on the fire. He then went into the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Cooro asked and Alex turned around.

"I'm getting some pajamas for you guys to wear," Alex answered and walked into a room.

"I guess that means we're spending the night," Nana said.

"Of course we are, idiot. We have nowhere else to go," Husky said harshly and Nana crossed her arms.

Alex walked back out, holding clothes and threw them at the group. Surprisingly, the clothes were all the right size for the group.

Nana held up her pajamas, which was a long-sleeved, pink dress, and asked, "Alex… where did you get these?"

"You must be confused at how all these clothes are the right size for you, right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Cooro said.

"I have two brothers and four sisters, all my twins to be exact. Either ways, my sister Lea had the idea to keep some of our old clothes, just in case. And the pajamas I just gave you guys belonged to my siblings when they were your age," Alex answered.

"But, what about Senri's?" Cooro asked.

"We also bought some clothes for our later years," Alex answered and opened a door.

He faced Nana and asked, "Its Nana, right?"

"Yeah," Nana answered.

"You can use this room to change," Alex said and Nana walked into the room and he closed the door behind her.

"You guys can change in here," Alex said and started to walk into another room.

"Where are you going?" Husky asked.

"I'm getting my pajamas to change into," Alex answered and walked into the room.

"You don't have to do that, you know," Cooro said absentmindly.

"I always change into my pajamas after getting wet!" Alex exclaimed and shut the door behind him.

"What was that all about?" Husky asked as he buttoned his shirt.

"I don't know. Maybe I offended him in some way," Cooro said and pulled on the given pajama shirt.

"The guy is just weird. We shouldn't really press the issue," Nana said when she stepped out of her room.

"I'm not that weird you know," Alex said, muffled by the door.

"You can hear us?" Cooro asked.

"The walls aren't as thick as you think," Alex said and stepped out of his room. He had removed his cape but his bandannas still remained. He had stripped blue pants on and a giant, white t-shirt on. The shirt was so big, it almost fell off his shoulders. Any part of his upper body that bulged out couldn't be seen unless you looked really closely.

Nana turned her attention away from Alex to the boys and she tried to say something, only to be stopped by an incredible blush across her face. They all looked to where Nana was looking to see Senri only in his underwear, taking his sweat time putting on the pants Alex gave him.

Alex automatically put his hands over Nana's eyes and pushed her into a random room. As he was pushing her he yelled, "Get him into his clothes, now!" Both Cooro and Husky could have sworn Alex was about to turn as red as Nana. They just filed this under the fact that Alex didn't know Senri very well and wasn't use to his actions, so he panicked and did the only thing he could think of.

Just before they did anything they saw Alex run into the kitchen and started, by the sounds of it, pouring the hot milk into cups. Cooro and Husky finally did as ordered and called back Alex and Nana when finished.

They all returned to their seats and Alex passed out the drinks. When finished he took one last trip to the kitchen for his drink. Out of the corner of their eyes, the group saw Alex remove his bandannas and throw them into what looked like a laundry basket. But they didn't bother to look at Alex's hair, they had all already decided he was bald.

"Hey, Cooro," Husky whispered so Alex couldn't hear but loud enough for the others to hear.

"Yeah?" Cooro questioned and looked over to his silver-haired friend.

"Do you think we should-" Husky was cut off when Alex said, "Should what?"

They all looked at Alex, who was sitting down and had brought his legs up so he could rest his chin on his knees, and said nothing. They were too astonished at his actual appearance to say anything.

Alex.

Looked.

Like.

A.

Girl.

--

Grace Raven: Okay, if you read the prologue in Confronting a Painful Past, you would already know Alex looked like a girl. I would continue the chapter, but 1. I'm too lazy and 2. I want to make the story as many chapters as possible. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated soon.


	5. Alex

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX.

**Chapter 5**

Responses to reviews:

Twilinden: Are you talking about Alex's appearance?

Princess Falling Star: I have nothing to say to reply. Sorry.

Shadow793: Thanks a lot.

**Alex's quick note: I'm going to talk about my family in this chapter. Any resemblance to a different family in another story is completely coincidental. Grace Raven made me and my family up when she was nine, so any similarities are complete coincidence.**

Grace Raven: Sorry this chapter took so long. Had to go out for vacation and freakin' writer's block took over. Also, someone requested a video so I started on it. So blame vacation, writer's block, and people who request videos from me for making you wait so long!

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You know what, scratch that. Just saying he looked like a girl was the understatement of the century. But saying he looked more like a girl than a girl did was over exaggerating. So the best way to describe his feminine appearance was by saying that he looked more like a girl than Husky would if he wore a wig, makeup, jewelry, and a dress.

He had waist-length, golden blond hair, the prettiest aquamarine eyes you could see in a lifetime, delicately white skin, and judging by his skinny legs, was also very slender. He had looks any woman would die for. In fact, the group wouldn't have been surprised if he suddenly stood up and they saw femininely curves and the dead give away that someone was a girl, breasts. If he had a different shirt on, that is.

Alex noticed the stares he was receiving and asked, "Is something wrong? Are you surprised that I'm wearing this?" He took hold of a choker on his neck. It had a large, aquamarine, 

diamond-shaped gem connected to it. The gem was connected to what seemed like a black cloth.

Alex removed his choker and said, "It's connected like a usual necklace is connected. I know it's girly, but it was gift from my sisters when I was younger. To not hurt their feelings, I wore everyday. And I still do even though they're not here. Guess it's a force of habit." Alex looked up at his guests, who were staring at him in disbelief.

"Okay, I guess that's not it," Alex said, a little uncomfortable and put his choker back on. He put his index finger on his chin to create the expression that he was thinking.

"Hmm. Oh, I know!" Alex said and perked. "It's because of my long hair. My sisters do the haircuts, but I never let them cut my hair because they always played pranks on me and I was afraid that they would cut it in a goofy manner and leave me with a terrible haircut. Call me paranoid, but once you meet my sisters, you would understand." Alex picked up a piece of his golden locks, but the stares he was getting weren't changing.

"Okay! What the hell are you staring at?" Alex yelled and the others snapped out of their trance.

"You look like…" Cooro trailed off.

"A girl," Husky finished.

"And a pretty one at that," Nana added and Husky snapped his head at her.

"Nana, not helping," he stated and she stuck her tongue out at him. The two ten-year olds somehow got stuck in a staring contest but were snapped out of it when they heard Alex laughing. They looked at the laughing boy.

"I should have known. I guess since people haven't mistaken me for a girl for such a long time, I forgot," Alex said, laughing the whole time.

"You see, I take after my mother. Do you want to see a picture?" Alex asked.

"Sure!" Nana exclaimed, sparkles in her eyes. Under his breath, Husky said, "Stupid girl, always so cheerful."

"Excuse me?" Nana said and put her hands on her slender hips. Husky had obviously forgotten her acute hearing and faced her again, trying to move backwards. Husky was speechless, obviously terrified of the girl because he knew how hard she could punch and slap someone. Alex chuckled to himself as he opened a desk drawer that was leaning against the far wall.

"Okay, please calm down. You have no idea how hard it is to clean up blood," Alex said and walked back to the group holding a photo.

"Here you go," Alex said and placed the photo on the table. "This is my mother and my father sometime after their honeymoon."

In the picture were a beautiful woman and a handsome man. The woman had waist-length, gold- colored hair and sparkling, aquamarine eyes. The man had chocolate brown eyes and dark brown hair. The woman's back was lying against the man's chest as he wrapped his arms around her skinny waist. The woman's hair was tied back into a ponytail that was slung over her shoulder and the man and women were sitting on a beach.

"These are your parents, Alex?" Husky asked and held up the picture.

Alex smiled and nodded and said, "As you can see, I look fairly similar to my mother. Just like you, Husky."

"What?" Husky asked, a little nervous.

"You look like a girl, like I do, so I figured you took after your mother like I did," Alex said and sat back down. Husky phewed under his breath and passed the picture over to Senri and Nana.

"Wow, your mom is so beautiful, Alex," Nana said amazed as she studied the picture.

Alex smiled widely and said, "Thanks. She had a lot of men who were after her. They even came after her after we were born and she was married to my dad." He laughed a little after his last sentence. The way Alex's face had brightened made him look even more like a girl.

"So, Alex, where are your parents? Why aren't they here?" Cooro asked. Alex's smile disappeared from his face and he suddenly turned serious.

"Alex?" Senri asked, worry actually making it into his monotone voice.

"They died eight years ago in a fire," Alex said and looked forward at nothing.

The group gasped. They were surprised that he could be so blunt about something so traumatic like his parents dying. They were surprised he would just go out and say that to complete strangers instead of changing the subject.

"No need to be so surprised," Alex said and put the picture back in the drawer he took it out of.

"How about I show you a picture of my siblings?" Alex asked and pulled out another picture.

"Sure, I guess," Nana said.

"I took the picture, so that's why I'm not in here," Alex said and placed the picture down.

"Are you sure?" Cooro asked and pointed at what appeared to be a girl with the same blond hair and blue eyes that Alex and his mother had.

"That's my sister, Lea. She also took after our mom," Alex said and bent over the table. So close up, Cooro and the group noticed his hair was actually the color of sand when the sun sets instead of gold and his eyes were dark ocean blue instead of aquamarine.

"This is Kristi," Alex said and pointed at one of the girls. Kristi had almost waist-length, dark brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail with a black ribbon and chocolate brown eyes. Around her wrist, the group could see a bracelet, but it was so small they couldn't describe it.

"Chris," Alex said and moved his finger over to girl who also had almost waist-length, dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. The only difference she had with Kristi was that her hair wasn't strait but was wavy and had curls at the end and she had three freckles under each eye. She had a red bandanna on her head.

"This is Lisa." Lisa had snow white hair and pale green eyes. Her skin had a significant difference from her siblings. It was as pale as Husky's own skin, maybe even paler.

"And finally, John and Jacob. The only identical twins of our family." Both John and Jacob had orange hair and grass green eyes. Like Lisa and Chris, they had freckles under their eyes.

_They all look like they're thirteen. Come to think of it, so does Alex,_ Cooro thought to himself.

"Alex, how old are you?" Cooro asked.

"Thirteen," Alex answered.

"Thirteen! I could have sworn you were fifteen!" Nana exclaimed.

"Huh, weird you would think that," Alex said and picked up the picture to put it away.

"Did your siblings die as well?" Cooro asked and got punch roughly in the head by Husky and an I-can't-believe-you-just-asked-that stare from Nana.

"No, you baka," Alex said.

"Baka?" Husky asked.

"It's Japanese for idiot. My parents taught me and my siblings some words in Japanese and Spanish before passing away. I kinda got into the habit of using the words I know," Alex answered and collected the empty cups.

"Well, where are your siblings?" Husky asked.

"When we were eleven, we decided that whenever we found a home for ourselves, six of us would go out and look for a new home to stay at. Each of the six heading for a different city. Once one of them find one, they gather the others and then go back to get the remaining one, who was left to take care of the house, and live in the home for about five months. We keep doing this until we find a suitable place to stay for the rest of our lives," Alex answered.

"That sounds stupid," Husky said and received a punch in the head from Nana.

"Well what my family does isn't really that different than what you and your friends do now when you look closely at it," Alex said and smiled sheepishly.

"Whatever," Husky said.

"Urusai," Alex said.

"What?" Nana asked.

"It means shut up," Alex answered.

"I see," Nana said.

"Either ways, you should really go to bed. Senri, right?" Alex said and turned to Senri.

Senri nodded in response and Alex said, "Help me with the table." He put his hands under the table and Senri did the same and picked it up. They placed it in an empty room and Alex opened a closet. He and Senri took out a giant mattress and they put it in the place of the table. Alex then got four pillows and a blanket and threw them on the mattress.

"You guys will sleep on this. Ja ne," Alex said and started to walk into his room.

"What?" this time Senri asked.

"It means goodbye. I don't really know how to say goodnight," Alex answered.

"Then why not just say goodnight?" Husky asked.

"Because Ja ne sounds cooler," Alex said and walked into his room and slammed the door shut. Everyone, except Senri, sweat dropped at his childish behavior.

--

As the group slept, Alex stepped out of his room, holding a sword.

Alex sighed and said, "I hope you guys don't wake up while I do this." He then started to walk towards the group.

--

Grace Raven: Omg, what the hell is he gonna do? Keep reading this story and find out. Review if you liked this chapter and want it updated.


	6. Memories in a Fire

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 6**

Responses to reviews:

Grace Raven (my mom was signed in on as me): Thanks, mom.

Twilinden: And you're not the lest bit worried about what Alex was going to do.

Princess Falling Star: In my story it does. I've kinda been watching too much anime .

Grace Raven (me this time): I forgot to put this in the last chapter. Alex knowing a different language just sounded right to me. So I chose Japanese and Spanish because I know some words in those languages. I only know Japanese from watching too much anime in the original Japanese version with English subtitles -.-'. Also, I made a typo in the last chapter. Alex's parents didn't die nine years ago but eight. I fixed it.

Grace Raven quick note: Graphically scary chapter here. You've been warned.

--

**Alex's P.O.V (shortly before where I ended the last chapter)**

"_Mama! Papa! Are you all right? Speak to me!" I screamed as I ran through the flames, tears somehow making it onto my face._

_Crackle crackle_

_I closed my eyes, but that didn't help me as I heard my mother's blood curdling scream as she was being burned alive. I fell to the ground and curled into featle position and cried, the flames slowly surrounding me._

_Crackle crackle_

_I lay almost dead on the floor as I awaited my death. The flames touched my hand, but I did not scream because I had already lost all feeling in my body. Although I was going to accept my death, something wanted me to run. But it was too late, my leg was stuck and I couldn't run. The flames reached my head and then…._

I woke up startled and breathing heavily. I hugged my knees and rocked myself back and forth to try and comfort myself. That memory still haunted me, despite how long ago it was. I looked over at my sword and picked it up.

_I haven't used this in a while. Guess this is as good a night as any,_ I thought to myself and tied back my t-shirt.

I walked outside my room and sighed as I saw my guests sleeping. They had a life ahead of them and I didn't.

"I hope you guys don't wake up while I do this," I said and walked over to them. I picked up a sheath that was behind Cooro and sheathed my sword. To pass some time I decided to study how they were sleeping.

Senri had his back to the group and was protectively hugging a mysterious book. Cooro had his arms and legs spread out as though he was trying to make a snow angel in his sleep. Nana had unconsciously curled up to Husky and Husky had put his arms around her torso to pull her closer. Consciously or unconsciously I did not know. I stood up and walked back into the hallway and continued to a door at the end of the hallway.

As I walked through the hallway, I passed the bathroom and its open door. I went to close the door but noticed something. I walked in and saw nothing. I turned around but was stopped halfway. I stood in front of my own reflection and the memories rushed back at me.

_Flashback 1_

"Welcome home, okaro, otousan!" I greeted my mother and father as they walked through our door.

My father smiled and said, "Always good to be home, my child."

I pouted and said, "'My child'? Can't you call me by my actual name seeing as you have six other children?"

"I like to call you that, my child," he said and patted my head.

"But you call all the others by their names," I retorted and he laughed.

"I call only you 'my child' because you're special," he said and I brightened. But my happiness was soon washed away when I saw the look on my mother's face.

"Mama, is everything alright?" I asked, not hiding the worry in neither my voice nor my eyes.

She snapped out of her trance and said, "I'm fine, honey. It's just that I turned down a client today and he said he would get back at me by using some of his contacts."

I gasped and she laughed heartily and said, "But it's nothing I can't handle." She smiled warmly at me and my brightened mood returned. But something in the back of my head told me something was going to happen that would change our lives forever.

_End Flashback 1_

_Flashback 2_

My siblings and I ran back to our house with a present for our parents. But our cheerful attitudes were diminished when we returned to our household. Our _burning_ household.

Lisa dropped the present we had bought and we stared in disbelief. Kristi apparently lost her mind and ran into the fire. The rest of us did the only sensible thing we could think of and followed her to pull her away.

_End flashback 2_

_Flashback 3_

I somehow got separated from my siblings and I ran through the burning building. My leg got caught on something. I pulled at my leg as the flames got closer. I heard a blood curdling scream and looked over. I couldn't see much but I knew from the slender silhouette it was my mother.

"Mama!" I yelled and tugged fervently at my entrapped leg. But I could only listen and wait for my death as my leg remained trapped and the flames got closer and closer.

_End flashback 3_

I stood in front of the giant mirror and anger swelled up inside of me. I gripped my sword harder and felt as though I was going to break the mirror. I ran out of the bathroom and opened the door at the end of the hallway. I stepped into the room that was empty and had four gray walls. Each wall had dents and scratches only created by a sword and small blood splatters almost everywhere across them.

I unsheathed my sword and closed the door behind me.

--

**No one's P.O.V (one hour later)**

Alex continued to feverishly attack the wall with his sword. He lost grip of the sword and dropped it. The sword cut his hand, but that didn't stop him from continuing. He attacked other walls and got cut on the hands and legs multiple times. He finally stooped feel on his knees. He was so close to the wall that he only had to move his head forward slightly for his forehead to touch the wall. He put his hands on the wall as though he was going to try pushing open an invisible door. Tears fell down his cheeks and he looked over to a picture on the wall next to him. It was picture of his whole family before his parents died.

Alex picked up his sword and stabbed the picture with his sword. But the stab was more centered at his mother's face.

"Mother, you baka. Why didn't you take that client seriously? Why didn't you think about us, your children? Didn't we mean anything to you?" Alex yelled through strangled sobs.

"And father. You cabron, why didn't you stop her?" Alex said and removed his sword.

"I'm sorry, mama, papa," Alex finally said and wiped away his tears with his bloody hands. He tended to his wounds, cleaned his face and went to bed.

--

Grace Raven: Okay, here are the translations for the foreign words and the language it came from:

Japanese words used:

Okaro: Mother

Otousan: Father

Baka: Idiot

Spanish word used:

Cabron: Bastard

Grace Raven: What I started this chapter with is an actual memory for Alex, not a dream. In my story, it actually happened. So you can tell that Alex has one hell of a bad past. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	7. Pancake Incidents

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 7**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: Okay, I had something to ask you why you would put a depressing ending to your chapter. Then I read your new chapter and there was no sad ending. So I'm gonna ask you a question… WHY THE HELL DO YOU ONLY PUT MY STORY ON YOUR ALERTS INSTEAD OF FAVORITING IT! HUH?! I KNOW YOU FAVORITED TWILINDEN'S STORY, BUT WHY NOT MINE? WHY?! crying in the corner again

Twilinden: After such a sad chapter you want another staring contest between Husky and Nana? Alex, I'm gonna let you do the honors here.

**Alex: Weirdo**

Me: Bravo Alex, bravo.

--

**Nana's P.O.V**

I snuggled closer into my pillow and found it strange that my pillow had a heartbeat. I opened my eyes and blushed immediately. I had snuggled up to Husky and he had his arms wrapped around my waist. I struggled and pushed him away and sat up. He frowned a little but turned around so his back was to me. I smelled something cooking and walked into the kitchen.

Alex was standing over the stove in a red t-shirt and blue jeans. His long hair was tied back into a pony tail that fell down his skinny back. He was also wearing a white apron that tied behind his neck and waist.

"Morning Alex," I greeted and he almost dropped the griddle he had.

"Oh, good morning, Nana," Alex said a little timidly.

"Did I startle you?" I asked.

"Yeah, a little," Alex answered and scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Oh no, it's just that I wasn't expecting you, that's all," he smiled warmly at me and I blushed a little.

"So, um, what are you making?" I asked.

"Pancakes," he answered.

"Ooh, I know how to make some great pancakes."

"Really? Then why don't you help me?"

"Sure!" I said and stood next to the taller boy. From that point of view I could see his apron was larger than it should be, seeing as it was almost falling below his chest.

"You really like wearing big things like that, don't you?" I asked as I put a pancake on the griddle.

"Kinda, no one has ever objected to it," Alex answered and set aside a readied pancake.

"Why, do you mind?" he asked and flipped a pancake.

"No, not really," I answered.

"Good," he smiled warmly at me again, "now can you pass me the pancake mix?"

"Here you go," I said and gave him a box that said 'Pancake Mix' on it.

"Gracias."

"What?"

"It means thank you in Spanish."

"Ah, I see."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alex had some Band-Aids on his hands that I know weren't there last night.

"Alex, what happened to your hands?"

"Huh, oh this. Kitchen accident."

"But no knives are out."

"Nana, please just drop it," Alex said and looked at me with eyes I knew too well. Eyes of tiredness and inner-conflict.

"Alex, don't try and fool me. I know those eyes too well to just let you be."

"Nana, drop it," Alex said, his voice much harsher.

"Fine," I said reluctantly.

"Hey, this isn't half bad," Husky said as he took another bite of the pancakes.

"What? Were you expecting it to be bad?" Alex, who was currently wearing his cape, asked and threw leftover pieces of his pancakes at Husky.

"No, I'm just surprised," Husky said as he protected his face from the flying bread crumbs. I giggled a little as Husky protected himself and laughed heartily when he fell out of his chair.

"Well, if you want to know, Nana helped," Alex said and took a sip of his orange juice.

"Really? Wow, Nana, you're really good!" Cooro exclaimed and ate his food faster.

"Hey! I also made these! Nana just helped and made a couple of them!" Alex yelled and pulled Cooro into a headlock.

"Okay, okay. You're really good at making these as well," Cooro said as he unsuccessfully struggled out of Alex's grip.

"Good boy," Alex said and released Cooro and started to pat him on the head like he was dog as Cooro gasped for air.

"You know, the place where I work is looking for some people to hire. I could get you guys the jobs if you want," Alex said and took another sip of his drink.

"That would be great!" Cooro exclaimed optimistically and jumped up.

"Sit down dumbass and finish your food," Alex said.

"If we are getting jobs, I think we should go now," Husky said and stood up.

"You shall finish your food first!" Alex said and pushed Husky face into his food.

"Let me go. I can't breathe," Husky's muffled voice said.

"Not until you say you'll finish the food. Nana and I worked really hard on this and I want you to finish," Alex said and pressed Husky's face further into his food.

"Okay, I promise!"

"Good," Alex said and released Husky. Husky moved back from his food but didn't raise his head.

"Besides," Alex added, "I don't go to work till noon."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Husky asked and looked up.

Alex tried to stifle a laugh but couldn't and broke free into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Husky asked harshly.

"You should see your face!" Alex said and pointed at Husky.

"What?" Husky asked and put his hands up to his face. He removed his hands and saw the syrup. And he didn't just have syrup on his face; he also had pieces of pancakes on his face. I muffled a laugh but Cooro just lost it and started rolling on the floor laughing.

Husky heard me and turned to me with an angry glare and said, "What, you think this is funny too?"

I couldn't hold my laughter anymore and joined Cooro and Alex on the floor.

"Ugh, where is the bathroom?" Husky asked.

Alex calmed down long enough to say, "Third door on the right, just before the door at the end of the hallway." He then rejoined me and Cooro in laughing at Husky's misery.

When Husky returned, we had finally calmed down and stopped laughing, save for the occasional snorts and small chuckles.

"So, in about an hour, we will leave so you guys can get yourselves a job at my work. Agreed?" Alex asked and picked up our plates.

"Agreed," we all, yes including Senri, said.

"Good, now, get dressed," Alex ordered.

"Yes ma'am," we all said, except Senri of course, and ran into different rooms to change.

Alex, well, he was left speechless at the fact we called him ma'am.

--

Grace Raven: So as you can see I'm trying to make up for the sad chapter by adding a lot of funny stuff by tormenting Husky and Alex a little. Also, sorry for anyone who put this on your alerts about how you got the e-mail like three times. I had to keep removing this chapter to edit it. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated!


	8. First Day of Work

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 8**

Responses to reviews:

Twilinden: All you really want is a staring contest, am I right?

Princess Falling Star: It was a joke. Cooro and the others were messing with Alex by calling him that. I honestly couldn't resist.

Grace Raven: I'm getting so many requests for videos on YouTube, school is starting soon, my friend Skyler is constantly IMing me, I'm catching up on summer reading (which I'm far behind on), and I'm also writing a book; so you people might want to get used to my stories being updated really far apart. Thanks for reading, now to the story.

--

"So this is where you work, Alex?" Cooro asked as the group stood in front of a giant building.

"Yeah, this is where we grow the food for the town," Alex answered and opened the door.

"Then why doesn't it look more like a farm?" Nana asked and followed him inside.

"The front, which we're in now, is where we process the food. Get rid of germs on the stuff we grow and potentially hazardous food and stuff like that. The back, where I work, is the part where we grow the food. The back is the place where it looks like a farm," Alex answered. He was starting to remind the gang of a tour guide. A tall tour guide who hid behind the giant collar of a cloak, hid his hair using bandannas, and wore goggles that hid his eyes. Nana secretly missed Alex's pretty face but she ignored it because her mind was still trying to figure out how Alex had gotten those injuries on his hands.

But her train of thought was interrupted by Alex yelling, "Oi, old man! I've got some workers for ya!"

"Really now, let's see what we got here," a man around his mid-forties came in and started to study Cooro, Husky, Senri, and Nana. The man had bristly chin and almost had a mustache. He was brown haired and brown eyed. He was wearing an apron similar to the one Alex was wearing earlier and had a white bandanna tied around his neck.

"So we've got two girls, a little boy, and a big guy with an eye patch. Alex, are you serious?" the man who the others presumed was the owner said.

"Yeah, I can tell they're not as useless as they seem. Also, the one with the silver hair is a guy," Alex said.

"Wait a minute, you're a boy?" the man said dumbfounded and bent over the counter to bring his face in front of Husky's.

"Yes I'm a guy," Husky said, obviously trying to keep his temper in check.

"Well, I still don't see what use any of you could be, but if Alex believes in you, I guess I'll give you a chance. Alex, show them the back while I figure out what jobs I give these brats," the owner said and walked through a hallway behind the counter.

"Thanks old man!" Alex yelled after his boss.

"I'm not that old! I'm thirty-five!" the man yelled back.

"That's old to me," Alex said in a normal voice and turned to his new friends.

"Go through that hallway, make a left at the second corridor, then take the right hallway when you get at the fork, then continue going strait until you reach a door at the end, then you'll be there," Alex directed and pushed the others towards the hallway he pointed at.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Husky asked.

"No, I have to go change into my work uniform," Alex said and slung the bag he was carrying over his shoulder.

"Okay, see you later!" Cooro exclaimed and ran down the hallway.

"Cooro, wait!" Husky yelled and ran after Cooro.

Alex chuckled to himself before he walked into a changing room.

The group took Alex's directions, getting lost at least twice, and found the place they were looking for. When they stepped outside, they were surprised to see Jerry, Danny, and Carrie. They were all wearing a white bandanna, white gloves, a white cape that reached their waist, and black rain boots.

"What are you doing here?" Husky asked.

"What? Oh, well lookie her. It's our long, lost cutie," Jerry said and took Nana's hand. This time, Husky's staff hit Jerry on the head.

"Sorry, it slipped again," Husky said and turned his back to them.

"Aw, how sweet," Carrie said.

Husky shot her a death glare and she hid behind Danny as Husky mumble incoherent gibberish.

"Either ways, you haven't answered my question. Why are you here and why are you all dressed like that?" Husky asked.

"We work here and this is our work uniform. Well it's the uniform you wear when you work out here," Danny answered.

"So why are you here?" Carrie asked.

"Alex is getting us jobs here!" Cooro exclaimed happily.

At the mention of Alex, Jerry, Danny, and Carrie suddenly became very cold in the mad sort of way.

"Oh my god, are you okay? Has he hurt you?" Carrie asked and started to shake Cooro.

"No, he's really nice to us," Cooro said and struggled away from Carrie's grip.

"Pfft, trust me, he'll get mean at some point," Jerry said coldly.

"Why? Has he done anything to you?" Nana asked.

"No, but we can defiantly tell he'll turn on you at some point," Danny said.

"Now, either ways, we have to figure out what to plant here," Jerry said and started to study the soil.

"I say we plant squash. We've been running low on squash," Jerry said.

"Shouldn't we plant strawberries? I mean, the economy in the town is demanding things like strawberries lately," Carrie said.

"I think we should plant tomatoes," Danny said.

"No we should plant squash!" Jerry exclaimed.

"Why would we plant squash?" Danny asked.

"Um, because I want to!" Jerry said in a very dumb fashion.

"Well aren't you the genius of the century," Alex said sarcastically from behind them.

"Alex…" Jerry, Danny, and Carrie said in cold unison with icy glares at the boy.

"Gee, thanks for the warm reception," Alex said coldly in return. He had his hair tied back in a bun and was wearing the work uniform. In his hands he held two rakes, one axe, a wooden spoon, and a shovel.

"I agree with Carrie, you should plant strawberries. Besides that type of soil is best for strawberries, not squash or tomatoes," Alex said.

"Who needs your opinion?" Carrie asked.

Alex shrugged his shoulders and said, "No one really. Just thought I'd share it."

Alex walked up to Cooro and the others and passed out the tools he held. He gave Nana the spoon, Husky and Cooro the rakes, and Senri the axe.

"Nana, your job is to cook lunch for the staff in the kitchen along with the chefs. Cooro and Husky, you're to help rake leaves and go to the garden to help with the planting. And Senri, you are to help with cutting the wood. Now go to your jobs!" Alex ordered.

"Don't know where to go," Senri said blandly.

"Oh, sorry," Alex said nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Carrie, how about you take Nana to the kitchen. Jerry, you take Husky and Cooro and Danny you can take Senri. How does that sound?"

"Yeah…whatever," Jerry, Danny, and Carrie said once again in cold unison and took who Alex assigned to them to their jobs.

"Man I hate that guy!" the three all exclaimed as they led Cooro, Husky, Senri, and Nana to their jobs.

--

Grace Raven: Finally, I'm finished! Whoo! Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	9. Follow the Drinking Gourd

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 9**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: Actually, nothing at all. They hate him because he's a secretive outsider. That's the only reason they hate him.

BennyBrownBrown: I'm glad you like him. And he would never hit Nana, the reason: he doesn't hit girls. And what do you mean by "he hits Cooro and the rest when he's hungry"? He hits them when they do something stupid, not when he's hungry.

Twilinden: Thanks. You like to make Husky lose, don't you?

Grace Raven: The song that will be sung in here is called Follow the Drinking Gourd. To hear it, go to YouTube and type in Favorite Choir songs, click on the one with the black background and pink letters. Follow the Drinking Gourd is the second song.

--

Nana walked through the fields hoping to talk to one of her friends. She had nothing to do because the food was being taken care of by the other cooks, so she decided to go out walking. She started to think about the uniforms. When Carrie dropped her off, she put on a white surgical mask and sunglasses that Alex was wearing when they saw him in his work uniform (A/N forgot to mention that in last chapter) and said it was another part of the work uniform and that Jerry and Danny were going to be wearing the same thing if Nana saw any of them. She stopped walking when she heard someone singing.

_When the sun goes back and the nighttime falls_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_When the stars come out and the first quail calls_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Well the old man's a-waiten for to carry you to freedom_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

Whoever was singing it was keeping his or her voice low, so Nana couldn't tell if whoever was singing the song was male or female. She walked towards the singing to see Alex digging. He wasn't wearing the surgical mask or his sunglasses. She continued listening to him singing.

_Well the banks of the river make a mighty good road_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_And the burden I'm a-carrien is a heavy load_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Well the old man's a-waiten for to carry you to freedom_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

Then Nana did something she regretted.

"That's a very nice song, Alex," she said sweetly and Alex jumped.

"Q-que? Oh, um, hola Nana, como esta usted?" Alex said.

"Eh?" Nana said and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, um, sorry, Nana. I forgot you didn't speak Spanish. What I said was, 'hello Nana, how are you?'"

"Oh, well I'm fine," Nana said.

Alex picked up his shovel and said, "That's good. Why are you out here?"

"The cooks said they had everything handled in the kitchen and with nothing to do, I thought I'd find one of you guys and talk with you."

"That's good, for a second there I thought you were skipping out on work."

"Like I would ever do that," Nana said and crossed her arms.

Alex laughed and said, "That's what I expect from a girl like you." He then returned to his work. Before Nana knew it, Alex had started singing again. Though his voice was still to low for her to hear if his singing voice was more feminine than manly.

_I got to run for they're coming after me_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Big Dipper lead to the land of the free_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

"What's that song called?" Nana inquired.

Alex stopped working and asked, "I was singing?" A little worriedly I might add.

"Yeah, though I could only hear the words, not the pitches and etc.," Nana said.

Alex sighed and said, "Well the song is called _Follow the Drinking Gourd._"

"What's it about?"

"It's about slavery and about an escape route that slaves took to escape slavery. The escape route included following the north star which was found in the constellation Big Dipper. Or what they called back then, the drinking gourd."

"Where did you hear it?"

Alex smiled sadly and said, "My mother sang it to me and my siblings when we went to bed. She sang other songs, but _Follow the Drinking Gourd _was always our favorite."

Nana saw the tint of sadness in his eyes and said, "I'm sorry Alex. I didn't know talking about your mother would make you sad."

"Huh, oh, its okay Nana. You didn't know. Its just that me and my siblings suffered a lot after her passing. Thinking back to the days when she was alive just makes me kinda sad. But no worries, I'll be fine," Alex said and gave Nana a smile. But Nana could see that it was fake. She could see he was just hiding his sadness under the smile he gave her. But she said nothing and smiled back.

Alex put back on his mask and sunglasses and started working again. Nana decided to help and helped him with whatever he asked her to do.

Alex looked at the watch on his wrist and said, "Finally! Its time to eat!" His sudden burst made Nana jump a little.

"Come on, Nana," Alex said and grabbed Nana by the hand and dragged her to the lunchroom.

"What about the others," Nana asked as she tried to keep up with the running boy.

"There's going to be a bell that signals lunchtime."

"Then why not wait for that?"

"Because the sooner you get there, the more food you get!"

"Then maybe we should get Cooro first. He loves food. He can eat a mountain load," Nana joked.

"Then we'll just save some food for him, because I am hungry!" Alex said and ran faster. Nana laughed at his optimistic additude. He was such a nice guy, and yet, for what reason she didn't know, Jerry and the others hated him and said he would turn on them after a while. This worried Nana to the core.

"Wow, this is so good!" Cooro exclaimed as he ate his food hungrily.

"When Nana said that you could eat a mountain load, I thought she was over exaggerating. But now that I see you eating, I realize it was an understatement!" Alex exclaimed, obviously taken aback by Cooro's hungry nature.

"Yeah, because we don't have that much money for food and etc. so when we find a place with a lot of food and the person is willing to share it for free, he eats more than a mountain load," Husky said and politely took a bite of his food.

"Whoa, scary," Alex said and twitched a little at Cooro. Husky snorted and Nana giggled a little at Alex's additude towards Cooro and his eating habits.

"This isn't funny!" Alex exclaimed and pounded the table, getting a rather many stares from the other workers. "He's an eating machine!"

"It took us awhile to get used to it as well. But pretty soon we weren't surprised when he would eat more than the three of us combined," Nana said.

"I'm still freaked out," Alex said and moved his plate closer to him.

"Why did you just do that?" Husky asked.

"I'm afraid that Cooro is going to eat my food," Alex answered. Nana laughed as did Cooro and Husky stifled a laugh.

"Oh urusai!" Alex exclaimed.

"I forgot, what does that mean?" Cooro asked.

Alex sighed and said, "It means shut up in Japanese."

"Oh yeah," Cooro said and returned to eating.

They all sat in silence as they ate, but it was soon interrupted by Cooro going, "Uggh, I don't feel too good."

"Crap, don't tell me your going to throw up," Husky said.

Cooro clutched his stomach and said, "I think so."

"Oh, damn it all," Alex said and walked over to Cooro. He picked up Cooro be the stomach and took the young boy to what they assumed was a bathroom. They all covered their ears as Cooro vomited.

When Alex brought Cooro back, Cooro looked sick to his stomach and was very pale.

Alex set Cooro down and said, "Okay, next time, don't eat as much. Got it?"

Cooro groaned and nodded and Alex said, "Good boy." He then started to softly pat his head.

"Wow Alex, you're just like a mom," Husky said and Alex suddenly stopped his movements and balled his hand up into a fist.

"Husky," Alex said.

"Um, y-yeah?" Husky stuttered because the tension in the air had become very scary.

"Please don't compare me to my mother," Alex said and turned his towards Husky. The look on his face could scare the bravest man alive and revert him to hide behind his mother as a young child would.

"Oh, um, sorry, Alex," Husky said.

"It's okay, you didn't know," Alex smiled brightly, which scared Husky even more.

"Come on peoples, we have to finish eating before work starts again!" Alex exclaimed optimistically and started to eat again.

That's when Nana noticed something strange. Alex wasn't wearing his gloves and she could clearly see no scratches or Band-Aids on his hands. She didn't know much about biology, but she defiantly knew the human body couldn't heal that many cuts in such a short amount of time.

Later that night, everyone was asleep. Well everyone except Alex. He stood in the living room drinking a cup of milk. When he finished he continued the song he sang while working.

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Well the old man's a-waiten for to carry you to freedom_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

And with that he went to bed.

--

Grace Raven: Worst ending for a chapter ever, I know. I've put up a new story on fanfiction! Its a oneshot for plus anima called Sorrow, Sing Sorrow. Warning: It might make you cry. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	10. Late Night Occurences

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 10**

Response to review:

BennyBrownBrown: Eh, everyone makes mistakes like that. I know I do.

Grace Raven: Apparently all my reviewers disappeared, now I'm sad. Twilinden told me she had reviewed but I got nothing and I'm pretty sure she's mad at me so I'm not going to wait for her to review again. Now with the story.

--

Husky opened his eyes and felt something heavy on his chest. He looked down and saw that Nana was using his chest as a makeshift pillow. And at some point in the night he had put one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist to pull her closer. Husky blushed and would have jumped out of bed but he knew that it would wake the others and he would have to explain to them what happened, and only he and God knew he was a bad liar. So Husky silently and carefully placed Nana off of him and got out of the bed. He looked towards the kitchen and expected to see Alex making breakfast but didn't see him.

_That's weird. Nana said that he was up making breakfast yesterday while the sun was still rising, _Husky thought to himself and looked out the window to see that the moon was still out. He looked at a clock set on the fireplace and it read 3:30 a.m..

_Duh, Husky, _Husky thought to himself before he said, "As long as I'm up, I might as well get something to drink so I can go back to bed."

He walked into the kitchen and tripped over something. He tried to catch his fall but couldn't and somehow knocked over some pots and pans. The noise woke up everyone else.

"Is there a burglar or something. Oh, it's just you Husky," Cooro said as he, Nana, and Senri ran into the kitchen.

"Being a klutz as usual, I see," Nana said.

"Oh, shut up and help me," Husky said. If you haven't guessed, he's currently buried under a mountain load of kitchen supplies and etc.

Nana yawned and stretched before she said, "Yeah, whatever. Cooro, Senri help me here." She, Cooro, and Senri then began to remove everything that had toppled onto Husky. As they moved everything, they couldn't help but notice that all of it was extremely heavy, even Senri was having a little bit of trouble.

They then saw a light come towards them and Alex walked into the room holding a lit candle. His eyes were hazed with sleep, his hair was a mess, and he was hunched over and walking slowly.

Alex yawned and asked groggily, "What happened?"

"Husky tripped," Senri said.

Alex blew a piece of his hair away from his face and said, "Hold on, I'll help you."

But instead of placing down the candle and helping the others move the pots and etc. that were on top of Husky's legs, he moved to the front of Husky, took one of his hands into his free one and pulled. As he did so, Husky was quickly moved out from under the pots and etc. and even defied gravity for a while. And the others, even Senri and Husky, couldn't help but notice that Alex hadn't shown any effort when pulling Husky out. Alex had just pulled a live human being out from an incredibly heavy load of pots, pans, and etc. as though it was nothing.

Alex yawned again and walked away saying, "I'm going to leave it to you guys to moved the things to the side. I'll deal with the rest in the morning."

After Alex closed his door, Cooro asked, "How'd he do that?"

"I don't know. But I have a suggestion for you guys," Husky said.

"What is it?" Nana asked.

"We should be more careful about revealing ourselves as plus anima. I'm having a little bit of trouble trusting that Alex or anyone in this village would just accept that," Husky said.

"Yeah, we probably should," Nana said.

With that done, they continued moving everything to the side as Alex said. After that, they went back to bed. Except Husky had switched places with Senri; which Cooro and Nana had found strange but said nothing about it.

An hour later, Cooro awoke to a woman singing. He looked out the window and saw a woman on the porch in front of room they were staying in. He couldn't tell what color her hair and eyes were because her hair was hidden under a hat and she had her eyes closed. She wore a long, white sleeping dress and nothing else. She had very white skin making her look a little like a ghost. He listened intently as the woman sang in a beautiful voice.

_I've got to run for their coming after me_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Big Dipper led to the land of the free_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Well the old man's a-waiten for to carry you to freedom_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

After she finished her song, she removed her hat and opened her eyes. She had blond hair and blue eyes similar to Alex. She turned her head and saw Cooro looking out the window. She took a step back and faded away into nothing. Cooro turned paler than Husky and did the only thing he could think of doing… screaming. The noise startled everyone and they all ran to Cooro.

Nana put her hand on Cooro's shoulder and asked calmly, "Cooro, are you okay?" Cooro grabbed her dress and pulled her down and hugged her.

"Cooro, what are you doing?" Husky asked, a little ticked off.

Cooro timidly pointed out the window and said, "T-there was a l-l-lady outside. And s-she wa-was s-singing. T-then she di-disa-disapperead." He then continued to shake as he clutched onto Nana.

"Is everything okay?" Alex asked as he ran into the living room holding a lit candle.

"Cooro said he saw a ghost outside," Nana answered and hugged the frightened Cooro back.

"What did she look like?" Alex asked and kneeled next to Cooro.

Cooro let go of Nana and wiped away tears from his eyes before he said, "She looked like you, Alex." Everyone gasped at this.

"Didn't you say she was singing, Cooro?" Husky asked and Cooro nodded. "What was she singing?"

"Something about a drinking gourd," Cooro answered and Alex and Nana gasped.

"Were any of the words she sang follow the drinking gourd?" Nana asked.

"Yeah, why?" Cooro asked in return.

Alex looked down to the ground with a cheerless face and said softly, "The song she was singing is called _Follow the Drinking Gourd_. It was a song my mother sang to me and my siblings when we went to bed." After Alex said that, Husky and Cooro's eyes widened in slight fear.

"So what your saying is that Cooro saw the spirit of your mother?" Husky asked, fear in his voice.

Alex walked up to the window and put his hand on it and said, "Yeah, I believe so." With that, everyone, even Senri, went pale as Alex just stared blankly out the window.

--

Grace Raven: Enter dramatic music! I hope I freaked you out. And sorry for and HuskyxNana fans out there for having a CooroxNana moment, but he was currently freaking out, so deal with it. I promise I won't do it again. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	11. Discovery

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 11**

Responses to reviews:

Twilinden: I'm sorry that there was a CooroxNana moment! I won't do it again!

Princess Falling Star: Yay! I was pretty sure most people wouldn't like the fact that I added him.

--

When it was time to go to work, only Alex and Senri went leaving Husky and Nana to watch Cooro who had yet to calm down from his frightening experience earlier that morning. Though, after Alex and Senri left it seemed he was back to his old optimistic self. He in fact started singing the song he heard.

_I've got to run for their coming after me_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Big Dipper led to the land of the free_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd _

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Well the old man's a-waiten for to carry you to freedom_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

_Follow the drinking gourd_

"He's been singing those lyrics for the last hour," Husky said as he sat at the kitchen counter with Nana.

"I think he was just pretending to still be frightened this morning," Nana said and poured a drink for her and Husky.

That's when Cooro exclaimed, "I wasn't doing that!"

"Then why are you so happy your singing?" Husky asked.

"I'm not happy, I'm trying to call back that ghost," Cooro answered. At this, Nana almost choked on her drink.

"Cooro, are you crazy? You can't call back a ghost!" Nana exclaimed.

"But I want to try," Cooro whined.

"Well if you want to call her back, you might want to get the rest of the lyrics right," Nana said and jumped down from the stool she was sitting on.

"There are more lyrics?" Cooro asked.

"Yeah, the lyrics you've been singing are the ending lyrics," Nana answered.

"How do you know this?" Husky asked and jumped down.

"I overheard Alex singing this song yesterday," Nana answered.

"Teach me the song! Teach me, teach me," Cooro said excitedly and jumped up and down.

"Okay," Nana said and taught Cooro the rest of the song.

Cooro started to sing the song again and again as Husky and Nana just ignored him and sat at the kitchen counter, talking and eating and drinking whatever they could find in Alex's refrigerator. As they came onto the random subject of myths, Cooro exclaimed he gave up on seeing the ghost again and stole Nana's hat and made her run after him around the apartment. They even ran around outside once in awhile.

As Nana chased Cooro around outside, Husky said to himself, "What children. Especially Cooro."

After about thirty minutes of running, Nana got back at Cooro by grabbing the feathers out of his hair and having him run after her. About an hour later, Nana ran into the apartment breathing heavily.

"Why are you stopping? Aren't you afraid Cooro is going to catch you?" Husky asked boredly.

"I lost him. But I'm only going to stay here for awhile. I'm planning on hiding if he returns here," Nana said and took a big gulp of Husky's drink.

"That was mine you know," Husky said meanly.

"Yeah, I know," Nana said and Husky showed that he was getting ticked off.

Nana laughed slightly and said, "Don't get so upset. I just needed something to drink." She smiled and Husky looked away to hide the blush creeping onto his face.

"Nana! Where are you?" Husky and Nana heard Cooro call as he neared Alex's apartment building.

"Don't tell him where I am," Nana said and ran into the hallway. Husky watched her run to the end of the hallway and open the door that was there and just stand still.

"Nana?" Husky asked and walked towards her and stopped when he saw why she was standing still.

"Ah ha! There you are Nana!" Cooro said and took his feathers out of her hands and stood still when he saw the inside of the room. All the walls were gray and had scratches and blood smears all across them.

"Wh-what is this room?" Nana asked with fear in her voice.

"I don't know, but I don't like it's in Alex's apartment," Husky said and Cooro walked into the room.

Cooro looked around the room and ran towards a certain wall. "What's this?" Cooro asked and took something off the wall and brought it to Husky and Nana.

"It has too much blood on it for me to tell, but I think it's a photograph," Husky said and Nana turned pale. Nana, not being able to handle all that was around her, fainted and Husky caught her just before she hit the ground.

"Nana, are you okay?" Cooro asked.

"All the blood must have gotten to her. Go wash the picture and I'll take her into the living room," Husky said and carried her bridal shower into the living room. Cooro did as told and cleaned the picture in the kitchen sink.

Afterwards, Cooro sat down on the fireplace as Nana's head lay on Husky's lap as Husky sat on the couch with her. Cooro pretended he didn't notice Husky looking down worriedly at Nana and run his currently un-gloved hand through her hair.

Alex and Senri returned and Alex yelled, "We're back!"

Alex removed his gloves, mask, sunglasses, and bandanna and let down his hair before Senri asked, "What happened… to Nana?"

Before anyone could say anything, Husky said, "That's not of any importance right now. Alex, we have something we need to speak with you about."

Cooro stood up from his place on the fireplace and walked up to Alex and showed him the picture. At the sight of the picture, Alex's eyes turned cold.

--

Grace Raven: Ending chapter here. Sorry its short and kinda crappy. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	12. Get Out! and Almost Dead

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 12**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: Yeah, bloody pictures add suspense.

snowfreeze (my friend Skyler): My chapters aren't that creepy.

Twilinden: How was that a scary ending? YOU PEOPLE CONFUSE ME!

--

"Where did you get this picture?" Alex asked in a deep, almost monstrous, voice.

Cooro faltered a little and almost took a step back but regained his posture and said, "We went into the room at the end of the hallway and found this. Except when we saw it, there was blood all over it."

"One thing I want to know is what that is a picture of," Husky said and made sure not to look at Alex.

"It's a picture of my family before my parents died," Alex answered with a calmer voice but everyone could see what he was really feeling by just looking at his eyes.

"Why was there blood all over it?" Husky inquired and looked at Alex.

"That's none of your business," Alex said coldly and everyone could feel the tension swelling up in the room.

"Then why were there scratches and blood splatters all over the walls?" Cooro asked.

"Get out," Alex breathed through his teeth.

"Excuse me?" Husky asked not hearing Alex.

"I said get out!" Alex yelled and threw a potted plant at the wall just barely missing Husky's head.

The noise awoke Nana and she asked, "What happened? Alex what's wrong?"

Alex grabbed the picture out of Cooro's hand and yelled, "All of you, get out!" His voice was becoming dangerously shrill.

"Come on, let's go," Husky said and led his friends out of the apartment. As they walked down the stairs they could hear Alex yell in frustration, throw another breakable object, and then his strangled sobs indicating that he had broken down crying.

The group just walked aimlessly around the town until they reached the ocean again.

"This place kinda reminds me of Alex," was what Nana said as she stood in front of the ocean.

"Why?" Cooro asked.

"The sun is setting and is causing the sand and water to change color. The current color of the sand is Alex's hair color and the color of the ocean is Alex's eyes," Nana answered tears welling up in her eyes.

"Your right," Husky said and stood next to Nana. Nana then fell to her knees and cried in her hands.

"Why did he yell at us? Why did he throw us out?" Nana yelled through her sobs. Husky did the only thing he could think of and hugged her. Nana hugged him back and cried on his shoulder.

"I think he threw us out because we saw something we weren't supposed to see," Cooro said.

"Maybe Jerry and the others were right. He really was a demon under that niceness," Husky said softly. Then Cooro did something out of character and grabbed Husky's staff and tried to hit Husky.

Husky dodged just in time and said, "Cooro, what the hell are you thinking?"

"You shouldn't say such things about Alex after all he did for us! I don't know why that room was like that and why he snapped at us when he saw the picture, but I do know that he is no demon and shouldn't be called that!" Cooro yelled at his friend.

"You're right, sorry," Husky said.

"Should we go back to Alex?" Nana asked after she calmed down.

"How am I supposed to know?" Cooro asked returning to his idiotic nature.

"We should probably just wait here until it's probably a good idea to go back," Husky said and the others nodded in agreement and they sat down watching the sun set and they eventually fell asleep.

Cooro woke up and noticed he was no longer at the beach but in a small room with Husky, Senri, and Nana who were still asleep. Cooro walked through the building, which he figured was a house, until he found Jerry, Danny, and Carrie sitting at a small, circular table.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cooro asked and the three turned their heads to Cooro.

"Cooro, you're awake," Danny observed.

"Yeah, we can all see that idiot. Either ways, this is our home, Cooro. We found you and your friends asleep on the beach and took you here," Jerry answered.

"Senri was defiantly the hardest to take," Carrie said to herself.

"I see. But I thought that Carrie wasn't your sister," Cooro said and pointed to said Carrie.

"Oh, I'm not. I'm spending the night here, that's all," Carrie said and waved her hands in a nervous manner.

"I have a question, why were you on the beach when you're staying with Alex?" Danny asked.

"You knew about that?" Nana asked as she walked into the room with Husky and Senri.

"I could see you guys walk in and out of Alex's apartment from my window," Carrie said.

"Now answer us, why were you asleep on the beach and not with Alex?" Jerry asked.

"We saw something we weren't supposed to and he got all mad and threw us out," Cooro answered.

"What was it? Was it the log of people he's killed?" Carrie asked a little hopeful.

"No, it wasn't anything like that! I can't believe you would think that! What did he do to you to make you think that?" Husky asked as he shouted at the three.

"Nothing to tell the truth," Danny said.

"Then why do you hate him?" Nana asked.

"Because he's so damn secretive! We don't even know what he looks like," Jerry said. "Doesn't that cause concern to you?"

"He's just being who he is, no reason to hate him for that," Cooro said.

"We don't even know a thing about him," Carrie said.

"Is it that he doesn't tell you or is it that you don't want to know because you hate him for no damn reason at all?" Husky asked coldly. Jerry, Danny, and Carrie remained silent.

"As I thought. Come on guys, let's go. I don't want to spend another minute here," Husky said and walked away.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," Nana said and she and Senri ran after Husky. Cooro stood still for awhile and then caught up with his friends.

"Where are we going?" Nana asked as the group walked the empty streets.

"To Alex's place," Husky said.

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, he might not have forgiven us yet," Nana said.

"Would you rather stay with Jerry and the others?" Husky asked.

"Of course not!" Nana snapped.

"Then you see my point," Husky said.

"He'll let us in, no worries," Cooro said and ran in front of the group.

"Cooro, would you stop running?" Husky yelled after the almost black-haired boy and ran to catch up with him with Nana and Senri following.

"Alex, let us in!" Cooro pounded on the door.

"We're sorry for going into that room, we won't do it again," Nana said and joined Cooro in pounding on the door.

"Would you two stop that?" Husky said and turned the doorknob. "It's opened," Husky said with curiosity in his voice.

"Then he must have been expecting us!" Cooro exclaimed optimistically and jumped inside the apartment but stopped in his tracks when he saw the living room.

Pieces of furniture had been knocked over and there were scratches on the wall. The group couldn't help but notice the blood on the ground. They ran through the hallway and stopped at the bathroom when they noticed the blood trail coming from it. They walked inside and saw nothing except the broken mirror and the crimson liquid on the sink, mirror and ground. The followed the trail into the room at the end of the hallway where they had one of the most frightening experiences of they're young lives.

Alex lay on his side in his pajamas virtually lifeless. One arm was draped on the side of his body that wasn't on the ground while the other was reached out with the back of his hand on the ground. There were scratches all over his arms and legs, and, from what they could tell from the blood coming from his mid-section, his stomach as well. His blond hair, now stained with his blood, fell across his face and neck and was spread across the part of the floor he currently lay on. Blood fell from his mouth and some from his neck. His eyes were void and lifeless. His once beautiful aquamarine from a distance but dark ocean blue close up eyes were blank and had no pupils. He looked as though he had died.

Nana ran to the boy and put her ear up to his mouth. "He's still breathing, but barely," Nana said and stood up.

"Then we still have time to help him," Husky said and Senri brought Alex to his room.

"I found a first aid kit!" Cooro exclaimed as he ran into Alex's room.

"Good, thank you Cooro," Nana thanked and opened the first aid kit. Everyone started to do what they could to treat Alex's many wounds.

--

Grace Raven: Okay, maybe Snowfreeze was right, my chapters are kinda creepy. For some reason, if I play _Rebirthing _by Skillet and read the end of this chapter I want to cry. Tis' confusing. I'm putting up a new story called Meet the Siblings, so be on the lookout for it when I put it up! It's again plus anima and will deal somewhat with Alex's past and reveal something really surprising about Alex. Review if you liked this chapter and want this story updated.


	13. Back to Normal

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 13**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: I wasn't expecting people to think that was funny. Probably thanks to Pugsnarff and Cooro's Revenge. Also, he won't die. The first chapter starts off a year later where he is alive!

Twilinden: Alex isn't dead! Get that through your heads people!

Grace Raven quick note: Memories are in Alex's point of view.

--

As the flames reached my head, a light shone. Though I didn't know what it was, I knew what it wanted.

"No! No, leave me alone!" I screamed and tried to drag myself away. But that only made the light come closer and move faster. The feeling of pain returned to my body and I screamed. The light engulfed me and I closed my eyes and smile graced my lips.

"Wake up. Wake up, damn it!" my sister Lea's voice said through tears.

I opened my eyes and asked groggily, "Wh-what happened? Where am I?"

"Your outside," Lea said calming down.

"Wait a minute. What about Mama and Papa?" I asked and turned my head to my virtually identical twin sister. The tears returned to her eyes and she started to cry. I knew immediately that my parents were dead. I hugged my sister and didn't say anything, not even why I was still alive when it was obvious I was going to die.

Alex opened his eyes and stared at the gray ceiling above him. He raised his arm and saw the bandages that covered it.

"Huh, they must have found me before I died," Alex said with an opened mouthed smirk. He slowly sat up and grunted slightly because of the pain and just how stiff he had gotten. Alex put his hand up to his neck and felt his choker.

_Good thing they didn't take this off or else they would suspect something_, Alex thought to himself and sighed with relief. He noticed a plate of food next to him and put his hand over it.

"It's cold," Alex observed. "Either I've been out for some time or those kids never heard of reheating," he said and got out of his bed after pushing a piece of his hair behind his ear. He walked out of his room and into the living room.

The walls still had scratches on them but all the furniture was put back and anything on the floor was either put back or swept up. It almost looked like nothing had happened. Just almost. From what Alex could see, Cooro and Senri weren't there but Husky and Nana were. Husky was lying on the couch with his head on the armrest and Nana was lying on him using his chest for a pillow. Alex smirked and walked over to the two ten year olds.

He bent over and whispered in a sing-song voice, "Wake up lovebirds."

The two opened their eyes slowly but woke up fully when they saw the familiar sand when the sun sets colored hair and dark ocean blue eyes and delicate white skin in front of them. Nana, a little too overexcited, jumped off the couch to hug Alex by wringing her arms around his bandaged neck. Alex, not prepared for Nana's surprise hug, fell to the ground. Luckily, the table wasn't there so he wouldn't hit his head.

"Okay, Nana, I'm glad to see you too but I'm a guy who has just been seriously injured. I would appreciate it if you would get off!" Alex exclaimed and struggled under Nana.

"Oh, sorry Alex," Nana said and got off of him, blushing the whole time. And Alex couldn't help but notice that Husky's face was a different color than Nana's, green to be more exact. Though it probably wasn't like that because he was going to throw up.

"So, where are Cooro and Senri?" Alex asked and stood up.

"Went to go get some more bandages and medicine for you," Husky said.

"Do you know when they'll be back?" Alex asked and watched Husky as he went into the kitchen.

"No. But knowing Cooro and Senri, one of them might get distracted by a butterfly and run off," Husky answered as he walked back into the living room, filled glass in hand.

"Okay, well I'm just going to go get dressed," Alex said and stretched before running into his bedroom.

Husky sighed and said to himself, "At least he's back to normal." He turned towards the couch and saw that Nana, at some point during Husky and Alex's conversation, had lied back down onto the couch and had fallen asleep. Husky smiled slightly to himself and sat down next to her feet as he waited for Alex to return. When Alex did return, he had changed into knee length khaki shorts and a green shirt similar to his pajama shirt. His hair was tied back into a ponytail that was hung over his shoulder.

"You hungry, Husky?" Alex asked sincerely and cocked his head to the side.

"Um, yeah," Husky answered.

"We're back!" Cooro sang as he jumped through the door.

"Hello Cooro, Senri," Alex said as he walked back into the living room.

"Alex! You're awake!" Cooro exclaimed when he saw Alex.

"Yes, Cooro, I can tell that," Alex said blandly.

"So, did you get any food?" Nana asked.

"Not much. Just some carrots, spices, and strawberries," Cooro said and pulled the food out of the bag Senri carried.

Alex took the food out of Cooro's hands and studied them before saying, "I think I could make something pretty good from just this." He then began to move them around as though what he held were weights and he was testing how heavy they were.

"Really?" Nana asked dumbfounded.

"Well, when you grow up for eight years without parents, you usually figure out how to make edible food out of the least amount of ingredients. Heck, you even learn how to eat anything chewable," Alex said and walked into the kitchen, his long hair falling off his shoulder and then following him like a lap dog. All of them could hear him as he set the stove on and placed a skillet on it.

"What, is he going to make us a barbecue or something?" Husky questioned and took another sip of his drink.

Alex stuck his head out of the kitchen and said, "No baka, what you hear is a pot."

"How is that a pot?"

"It just is!" Alex exclaimed before returning to his cooking.

Not one of them couldn't help think weirdo after his response. But you do have to admit, he was a little on the strange side. Alex returned about an hour later with something that didn't look like food.

"Um, is this edible?" Nana asked as she looked over her food.

"What, just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I can't cook?" Alex questioned.

"Um, no. It's just that this doesn't look like food," Nana answered and pointed down to her said 'food'.

"Well you never know if it tastes good or not if you don't try it," Alex said and took a bite of his food.

Nana gulped and thought to herself _here goes nothing_ before taking a bite of what was on her plate. Everyone started at her in disbelief at just how far she would go to eat. Nana's eyes opened in shock and Husky and Cooro could of sworn she was going to throw up. But her reaction was the exact opposite.

"This is delicious!" Nana exclaimed and ate her food as though she couldn't get enough.

"See, what did I tell you?" Alex said.

The others took the advice of their friend and took a bite of their food and equally joined Nana in eating it as though they couldn't get enough. Alex smiled to himself when Cooro actually asked for seconds.

"Sure Cooro," was his response as Alex took the plate to refill it. After dinner, everyone changed and went to bed.

"Husky, Husky are you awake?" Cooro asked as he poked Husky.

"What is it?" Husky asked and looked at Cooro.

"I have a question."

"What is it?"

"How is it that everything just went back to normal after everything that happened?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"I don't know, I was just wondering. Well, goodnight, Husky."

"Goodnight Cooro." With that, they went to sleep. But Cooro's question rang through Husky's head the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, Alex lie awake on his bed.

"I wonder if they're starting to suspect something," Alex said aloud to himself and remained awake thinking about it until his body gave into a good night's slumber.

--

Grace Raven: Hmm, I wonder what he ment by that. Oh well, you'll just have to wait and see. So, I've been going over all my stories and I've realized something…. THEY'RE ALL CRAP! So yea…. Review if you liked this crappy chapter and want the story updated.


	14. Mention of the Incident

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 14**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: Oh you'll see .… hehehe.

Twilinden: Oh don't make such a big deal out of it. You of all people should know that hug isn't going to be counted as anything.

BennyBrownBrown(review of chapter 11 that didn't get responded to): You'll find out. But that blood is all his own. And, I had no idea why you're talking about a bridal shower to me. Would you like to tell me why?

BennyBrownBrown (review of chapter 10 that didn't get responded to): Actually, you'll find out in story I'm writing after about two more stories that'll reveal why she's there.

Shadow793: It's okay that you haven't reviewed lately.

--

"Wake up already," an annoyed girl's voice said as she shook me. I opened my eyes to see my sister Chris.

"Chris, what is it?" I asked and wiped the sleep out of my eyes.

"It's your turn," Chris said as I sat up.

"To do what exactly?"

"To watch John."

I sighed and said, "Fine. I'll do it." Even though I my voice sounded mean, truthfully, I was actually worried about him. He was hurt protecting Lea and had been in and out of consciousness for the past week. We had been taking turns watching him, and today was my turn. An hour passed until I heard John groan.

"John, are you okay?" I asked frantically when I saw his eyes open.

"Lea?" he said when he looked over to me.

With a sad smile, I shook my head and said, "No, I'm the other one. Lea's still trying to get over the fact that you got hurt so badly protecting you."

"What about you? You were hurt badly as well."

I smiled a little more happily and said, "You forgot about this thing." I put my hand to my stomach. "Because of this thing, I can't die from any injury."

"You're joyful today," he observed.

"When haven't I been?" I asked happily.

"When the incident-" was all that got out of his mouth before I said, "Please don't mention that. You know how I feel about it." My lips reverted back into a sad smile.

"I'm sorry Al-" once again I cut him off.

"Don't talk anymore, you need to rest your voice seeing as you got cut in the neck." John nodded and I left when he closed his eyes again.

"How is he doing?" Kristi asked when I entered a room she was in.

"Better. He should be able to walk around tomorrow. When that happens, we should leave," I said and sat down to eat my breakfast that consisted of fish and left over bread.

"Isn't that a little soon?" Lisa asked.

"Since when did you worry about that? After all, ever since mom and dad died, all we have been doing is going from town to town. And we rarely stay in a town for over a week," I asked.

"But we stayed in Gemini City for almost over a month after the incident," Kristi said and soon realized the stupidity of the question.

I dropped my fork and said, "When are we going to stop mentioning that? It's over now."

"How are we supposed to forget the event that almost made you go crazy afterwards?" Chris exclaimed and pounded the table.

"Please… just drop it already. I don't want to think about that ever again," my voice trembled as I spoke and tears formed in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Chris said in a softened voice.

"I'm going to go check on Lea," I said and left the room with my food unfinished.

"You shouldn't of mentioned that," I heard Jacob say and walk into the room that they all thought I had just left.

"I forgot," Chris said.

"That's not really a good excuse. We all suffered, especially Al-" I cut him off by storming back into the room and yelling, "Would you all just drop it? I don't want that thing ever mentioned again! Got it?"

"Calm down," Jacob said.

My hand balled into a fist and I said roughly, "I hate you guys." I then ran out the room to hide the fact that tears started to roll down my face.

"Alex, time for breakfast," Nana shook Alex as she stood next to Alex's bed and his sleeping body.

"Hmm?" Alex 'said' and looked over to Nana.

"It's time for breakfast," Nana repeated and Alex sat up.

"Okay, I'll be there in a second." Alex yawned and waited for Nana to walk out of his room before he started to remove his shirt to check his wounds.

He clutched his still bandaged stomach and said, "I really must of almost died if they haven't mentioned _it _yet." He then put his shirt back on and began to comb his long hair.

When Alex entered the living room, still in his pajamas I might add, Husky said, "About time you woke up. The boss is expecting you back today and we can't have you oversleeping."

"Yeah, yeah. What time is it?" Alex asked and yawned.

"Almost eleven o' clock," Cooro answered.

"Great, now I have to do everything quickly," Alex groaned and picked up a bowl of cereal.

"Alex, wait," Husky said and Alex turned around.

"What?"

"I want to know why that room was all bloody."

Alex turned his head away from the group and said sadly, "I'll tell you after work." With that, he walked into his room.

When he entered his room, Alex sighed and said to himself, "Great, now I have to explain to them the room. I just hope I don't end up talking about the incident."

He placed his bowl down and got dressed into the work uniform before returning to his cereal and eating it.

"Come on, let's go," Alex said when he re-entered the living room and began to walk to the door.

Just as he was about to turn the doorknob, Nana asked, "Alex, you will tell us about the room when we get back, right?"

Alex said nothing and nodded before walking out the door with the others following.

--

Grace Raven: Okay, I have a something I want anyone who can draw to try out. A drawing of Alex. I want to see what people think he looks like. I'll be checking places like deviantART everyday after putting this up to see if it's up there. Remember, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. It's not like I'm expecting it. Anyways, review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	15. Background of the Incident

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 15**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: Thanks.

Twilinden: You gave me a random review so I'm going to respond to it in a random way as well. Here it goes…. PIE ZOMBIES LOVE PIE!

--

After yet another hard day of work and cold glares from Jerry, Danny, and Carrie that were meant for Alex, the group finally returned. The first thing Cooro, Husky, and Nana did was flop onto the couch and sigh heavily in relief to finally get off of their feet. Alex removed his mask and smiled.

"Make yourselves comfortable, it'll only last for awhile," Alex said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nana asked.

"Nothing really, I was just saying that by the time you have a permanent job, your going have to get use to being on your feet a lot."

"Yeah, whatever," Cooro said lazily. Alex chuckled to himself and started to go to his room.

"Alex, wait," Husky said and Alex turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to tell us why that room was all bloody?"

"When you guys aren't exhausted I'll tell you." With that, Alex entered his room.

"Why is he stalling?" Husky asked.

"This is a complicated manner, maybe he's having trouble talking about it," Nana said.

Husky remained silent and crossed his arms. Nana kept her eyes on him to see if he would say anything but ended up falling asleep. Luckily Husky was the only one awake and in the room so no one could see the blush that increased across his face when Nana closed her eyes and ended up resting on his lap. That is until Alex returned.

"And you said you weren't boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Shut up Alex. She fell asleep and this ended up happening. I had nothing to do with it," Husky said irritably.

"You were sitting there."

"And what does that mean?"

"Nothing," Alex said innocently but at the same time devilish. Husky glared at him but Alex just stared innocently back until Husky eventually gave up.

"So what do you want for dinner?" Alex asked and sat in front of Husky.

"You explaining to us why that room was bloody."

"I don't really think me talking is going to fill you up," Alex joked but Husky showed no sign of laughing.

Alex frowned and said, "Fine, I'll tell you when dinner comes around. Now, what do you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine."

"Okay. Does baked chicken sound good?" Husky nodded and Alex smiled.

After dinner, the group sat in front of the fire drinking milk just like the night they first met. It was even raining, except thunder and lightning was added.

"Are you going to answer my question now?" Husky asked.

Alex nodded and said, "That room is the place where I take out the anger from my sadness."

"What does that mean?" Cooro asked.

"When my parents died, I became incredibly sad and entrapped myself in solitude for at least two months with my siblings doing the same thing. I grew up on the bad side of life, becoming a measly beggar and doing many things I still regret today. I've even had more than my fair share of scarring experiences. I ended up blaming my mother and father for what happened because they were killed after turning down an apparently demented client. I became angry and took it 

out on many people, even my siblings. Eventually, my siblings had to restrain me until I learned to control my emotions because they said I was becoming animalistic and could kill someone someday. But sometimes when memories of when my parents died or I just can't hold it in any longer, I would attack something like a wall for hours on end. Once in awhile, I would drop the sword and cut myself causing blood splatters on the wall. That's the explanation, happy now?" Alex looked up at the group looking like he was about to cry.

"Alex, I'm sorry all that happened to you," Nana said sincerely.

"It's okay. I'm just going to go to bed." Alex placed his glass down as a flash of lightning struck and walked into his room.

"Poor Alex. Having to go through all that at such a young age," Nana said.

"Yeah, I never would of expected that from the way he acts," Husky said.

"And to think he's not even a plus anima," Cooro said and they all nodded in agreement.

_The large, bald man looked at me with the eyes of animals. I flinched but stood my ground. I was going to make sure he didn't lay another hand on Jacob._

"_Run! Don't do this to yourself Al-!" Jacob's mouth was covered by a cloth before he couldn't finish speaking._

"_Don't worry, Jacob. I'm nothing but an animal while you still have a chance to lead a normal life. If I don't make it back, tell the others I love them," I told my brother before he was thrown into a closet._

"_Now, what shall I do with you?" the bald man said and started to stroke my cheek. "Your way pretty to beat. Your even prettier than me." He took hold of a lock of my currently shoulder-length hair. "Anyone prettier than me should be dirtied up. Will you comply?"_

_I remained silent._

"_I'll take that as a yes. Now stay silent and I won't do more pain to you than what will already be given." He clutched my shirt and threw me to the ground and removed my choker._

"_Can't have this in our way, can we?" he said devilishly and put his hand to my now bare neck. He started to squeeze it to choke me._

_As I coughed and tried to pull his meaty hand away, he said, "Choking you makes it a lot more fun because it adds excitement." He removed his hand and grabbed my wrists and called his cronies to help hold me down._

"_Keep the kiddy restrained so I can enjoy things better."_

"_As long as we get a share boss," a crony with black hair said._

"_Of course you get a share. This one is pretty enough for all of us." They all laughed evilly and the boss ripped away my shirt._

Alex sat up quickly and shook with fear. He brought his knees up to him and bent his face down clutching his hair on both sides of his head. No matter what he did, nothing could ease him after that dream, that memory that haunted him for life. Tears fell down his cheeks as he wrapped his arms around his legs and buried his face into his knees. That memory, which was renamed the incident, always left him like this after remembering it.

He stayed in that position for the rest of the night, too afraid to go back to asleep.

--

Grace Raven: If you remember in the last chapter, Alex got pretty emotional whenever his siblings mentioned the incident so I decided I'd put a little background on it and at the same time show you guys just how bad he had it. I'm going to start wrapping the story up soon, so just wait. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	16. I'm a Monster

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 16**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: Yes, poor Alex. And that's not the end of it.

Twilinden: Your being random lately… you know that?

Shadow739: Thanks.

--

"Good morning, Alex," Nana said when she saw Alex coming into the living room.

Alex lifted up his hand to say hello before he flopped down onto the couch.

"Alex, is something wrong?" Cooro asked.

"I'm fine; I just didn't get much sleep last night." Alex rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Nana asked.

"Something like that," Alex answered and sat up.

They could see the bags under his eyes and his hazed eyes.

"You should go to sleep earlier tonight," Nana said.

"Yeah, yeah. I know how to take care of my body thank you very much," Alex said.

After breakfast, the group went to work.

Alex threw his shovel into the group and sighed. He had been working for four hours strait and hadn't even gotten lunch yet. The boss was apparently torturing him for missing so many days of work so he was having Alex work his ass off to make up for it.

"Alex."

Alex turned his head to the voice.

"Yeah Jerry?"

"If you lay one hand on those kids I won't hesitate to hurt you," Jerry said.

"You really think I'd hurt them? Their my friends."

Jerry, who was by himself by the way, furrowed his eyebrows at Alex's response.

"Would you throw stuff at your friends and then throw them out?"

"They said something that brought back a bad memory for me and I kicked them out so I wouldn't hurt them."

"Then why'd you throw stuff at them?"

"That was only once. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to get back to work before my head gets bitten off by the boss." Alex continued his shoveling until something unexpected happened.

Jerry punched him.

Alex fell to the ground and a trickle of blood started to stain his mask.

"Jerry, what was that for?" Alex asked trying to stay calm.

"Why don't you just tell them your nothing but a demon?" Jerry exclaimed.

"Because I'm not one!"

"Then why aren't your parents here? I bet you killed them!"

Alex couldn't take listening to him anymore and kicked his ankle causing him to fall. When he was in range, Alex punched him under the chin sending him upwards. Alex grabbed Jerry's ankle and threw him tumbling to the ground. When Jerry stopped rolling, he got up on his knees and bent over trying to catch his breath. But Alex wasn't finished. He finally threw a kick that hit Jerry's cheek and sent Jerry to the ground. Jerry opened one of his eyes to see Alex balling his hands in fists and even though he couldn't see his eyes behind his glasses, Jerry knew Alex's eyes were filled with hatred.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about my parents like that! What happened to them is none of your business!" Alex yelled in a strangled voice.

"You see, you're nothing but a demon."

That deserved a kick in the stomach. As Jerry winced in pain, Alex picked him up by the collar.

"If you ever call me a demon or insult my parents again, I'll-"

"You'll do what? Kill me?"

Alex punched him in the face and dropped Jerry.

"Leave, now," Alex said in a monstrous tone. Jerry glared at him before leaving.

Alex dropped to his knees and started to breath heavily.

_That was way too close. I have to control myself better or else…. _Alex thought to himself and stood up. He picked up his shovel and continued to work.

"_Anyone prettier than me should be dirtied up." "Keep the kiddy restrained so I can enjoy things better." "As long as we get a share boss." "Of course you get a share. This one is pretty enough for all of us."_

Alex unconsciously dropped his shovel as the memories of the incident flooded his mind. But it continued farther than where it stopped last night while Alex slept. Then, more memories came into his mind.

_Flashback_

"_K-Kristi? What happened?" I asked as I stood in front of my currently eight-year old sister who was bruised and had cuts all over her body._

"_You don't remember?" she asked._

"_No, why do you have cuts all over your body. And why am I here? All I remember is losing consciousness while that guy…." my voice trailed off._

_She looked to the ground then back at me and said in a barely audible voice, "You did this. You were going crazy."_

_At her words, my whole world fell. I had attacked my sister, my _twin_ sister._

"_I-I did?" Kristi nodded in response._

"_I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." I fell to my knees and Kristi hugged me. I didn't even care the blood from her wounds currently trickling down my back._

_End Flashback_

_Flashback_

"_No! Stop hurting her!" I yelled as a burly man held me back forcing me to watch as a man attacked my sister, Lisa, with a sword._

"_Shut up kid. Or else," another man said and held a sword to my neck._

"_Go ahead, try and kill me," I said maintaining my courage._

"_Warning one," he said and cut my neck with his sword. At the same time, he cut off my choker._

"_Want a warning two?" I said nothing. Something was holding back my voice. But I snapped out of my trance when the man who was attacking Lisa threw down his sword and cut her from her shoulder and diagonally down her body._

"_Lisa!" I exclaimed and felt myself lose control. All I remember after that was me standing in front of a bleeding Lisa with blood on my hands and multiple parts of my body. I turned around to see everyone but my sister and me dead._

"_I did it again," I said to myself and picked Lisa up, making sure to grab my choker before leaving._

_End Flashback_

Alex didn't even realize the tears that streamed down his face as he stood still.

"Alex, it's time for lunch," Husky said and tugged at Alex's work cape.

"Oi, Alex. Answer me," Husky once again tugged on Alex's work cape.

"Alex, is something wrong?" Cooro asked and shook him slightly.

Alex fell to his knees.

"Alex?" Senri asked.

"I'm a monster, I'm a monster, I'm a monster," Alex continued to repeat those words and the group finally took notice of his tears.

"Alex?" Nana said and put her hands on his shoulders.

He seemed to return to normal and said, "What?"

"It's time for lunch," Cooro said.

"It's about time," Alex said in an annoyed tone and stood up and started to walk away.

"Alex."

"Yeah?"

"Is everything okay?" Nana asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You were crying earlier and were saying 'I'm a monster' over and over again."

Alex turned his head and resumed walking away.

"Now isn't the time to talk about it," he said sadly and didn't bother stopping to wait for his friends to catch up.

--

Grace Raven: As you can see, I'm really trying to delve into his past without revealing too much. I'll start trying to wrap up the story after the next chapter. Review if you liked this chapter and want the story updated.


	17. He's No Bad Guy

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 17**

Responses to Reviews:

Twilinden: Meant to do that .

Jo Ann: Yes, yes he does.

Shadow793: Yes, poor Alex. If you read Meet the Siblings, Alex get's even darker. In a way.

Grace Raven: OMG I just survived Hurricane Ike. Yay! Go me, go me, go me.

**Alex: While Grace there parties, let's continue the story.**

--

"What are we eating today?" Cooro asked Alex as he stared at the menu that was too high for Cooro to see.

"Salad," Alex said and sighed before grabbing his plate.

"Yuck, salad," Nana said and stuck out her tongue.

"You should be grateful that you actually get something that isn't burnt and sour to eat," Alex said and sat down at the table only he and the others sat at.

"What do you mean, Alex?" Husky asked and sat down across from Alex.

"Growing up without parents for eight years makes you resort to any food you can get," Alex said and took a bite of his food.

No one said anything, too uncomfortable to say anything.

"Alex."

"Yes, boss?" Alex asked and looked at the burly man.

"Jerry tells me you attacked him today."

"He insulted me and my parents and threatened to hurt me. What was I supposed to do?" Alex asked coolly.

"You weren't supposed to attack him, that's what!" the boss exclaimed and pounded the table.

Alex stood up and looked coldly at the bearded man from behind his glasses.

"Look, boss, I'm not in the mood to deal with this at the moment. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to work," Alex said and dumped his half finished salad in the trash before walking off.

The boss furrowed his eyebrows but didn't go after Alex and instead walked the other way.

"Why do you insist on living with him?" Carrie asked and sat down where Alex sat with Jerry and Danny sitting on either side of her.

"Because he's nice to us," Cooro said and Danny snorted.

"Doesn't really seem like it seeing as he threw stuff at you," Danny said.

"That was a one time thing. He was really distraught because we had gotten into his past too much," Nana said as she clutched her shirt.

"A past of murders you mean," Jerry said as he chafed his wounded cheek.

"Eh?" Cooro, Husky and Nana said and Senri raised an eyebrow.

"He started hitting me when I said he had most likely killed his parents," Jerry said and everyone gasped. This was a new low; even a villain wouldn't say that to someone.

"Now I can understand his actions," Husky said and stood up with his friends.

"I can't believe you're standing up for him!" Carrie exclaimed and lunged over the table.

"Like you know anything!" Nana exclaimed and lunged over the table as well.

"We would if he would actually show us his face," Danny said and grabbed Carrie by her shirt and pulled her back, with Husky doing the same thing for Nana.

"Well, we've seen behind his mask, and we know he's no bad guy. Maybe if you would actually try accepting him, you would know that as well," Husky said and led his friends out, leaving Carrie and the others thinking.

When Senri and the others found Alex, he was sitting in the middle of the field hugging his legs.

"Alex?" Cooro asked and Alex turned to them, showing the face only they had seen.

"Yeah?" Alex asked and smiled sadly.

"Are you okay?" Nana inquired and walked up to the blond haired boy.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But the boss just told me I'm going to lose my job along with the rest of you. You guys should probably get ready to leave by tomorrow," Alex said and stood up, reigning above Cooro, Husky, and Nana and only half a head shorter than Senri.

"Why don't you come with us?" Cooro asked and Husky and Nana snapped their heads at the brunette.

"Nonsense, I don't belong with you guys. Besides, I still have to wait for my siblings to come back for me," Alex said sadly and began planting seeds in the ground.

"Um, okay," Cooro said and left with his friends.

"Kristi, Chris, Lea, Lisa, John, Jacob, please come back for me soon. I don't think I can stand being with Jerry and the others much longer," Alex prayed silently as he held his shovel to his chest with his eyes closed, trying to hold back the slight tears in his eyes as every bad memory he had flooded his mind and dared to break his already thin layer of sanity.

"Please," Alex whispered and looked up at the sky that had impending rain clouds hovering over the field.

"Mama, Papa, why did you have to die?" Alex asked as his tears mixed with the rain and his blond hair became soaked under his white bandanna.

--

Grace Raven: I'm going to start wrapping up the story next chapter. Review if you like the chapter and want the story updated.


	18. Unknown

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 18**

Responses to Reviews:

Jo Ann: Oh course there's going to be a happy ending! Do you people not know me at all! **Alex: They don't know you. **Me: Oh, right. **Alex: -.-' **Me: But still, the way I started off the story indicates everything is going to turn out fine.

Shadow793: Yes, stinks for Alex. But no worries.

--

"Where's Cooro?" Husky asked when he finished packing.

"I think he said he was going to wait for you guys down at the beach," Alex answered as he tied his hair up in his blue bandannas.

"I guess we have to go down there," Nana sighed.

"Do you mind if I come with?" Alex asked.

"No, of course not," Nana answered and Alex smiled before buttoning on his cloak collar.

When the four made it to the beach, they found Cooro jumping around in the water with Jerry, Danny and Carrie standing there.

"Cooro, get out of the water," Husky said as he pulled Cooro away.

"Come on, Husky, its fun. Why don't you try it?" Cooro asked and pushed Husky towards the water.

Nana grabbed Husky's wrist and tried to pull him so he didn't hit the water and transform, but her plans didn't go as she thought. Instead, she fell in with Husky.

Alex chuckled at the two's wet appearance when they fell in- the water wasn't that deep so Husky didn't transform- and Jerry, Carrie and Danny finally noticed he was there.

"Alex, are you leaving with them?" Carrie asked hopefully.

"No, I'm just leading them out," Alex answered as Cooro ran over to help Husky and Nana. That's when Nana's ears twitched.

"Something wrong, Nana?" Alex asked.

"Something's…coming," Nana answered slowly and two long tentacles suddenly came out of the water.

"I-it's the monster!" Danny exclaimed and Alex and Senri ran to try and get Husky, Nana and Cooro out of the water. (A/N if you've forgotten about the monster, reread chapter 3) Unfortunaly, only Husky was able to get out in time as the octopus' tentacles wrapped around Cooro and Nana and carried them above the water.

"Help us!" Nana screamed in terror as the tentacles tightened, threatening to suffocate them.

After a little bit of struggling, Cooro reached his hatchet and cut the octopus's tentacle, which freed him.

"Cooro!" Nana exclaimed as Cooro plummeted to the ocean. But just as he was about to hit the water, Cooro released his +anima wings and flew up.

"Let her go!" Cooro ordered and threw his hatchet at the tentacle that held Nana. Unfortunaly, another one of the octopus's tentacles blocked the hatchet and tried to recapture Cooro. Cooro continually dodged and eventually made it back to the shore.

"Help me!" Nana screamed just before she was dragged underwater.

"Nana!" Husky exclaimed and started to run to water, only to be stopped by Alex.

"You can't go alone," Alex said.

"I'm the only one who can swim, now let me go!" Husky yelled and Alex brought out a small, mouth shaped device.

"What's that?" Husky asked.

"A little contraption I made. It'll allow me to breath under water. And no worries about me swimming, I can do that fine," Alex smiled and turned to Senri.

"Senri, give me your sword," Alex said and Senri held up his sword.

Alex thanked him before taking out the sword and walking to the shore.

"Let's go," Alex smiled at Husky and Husky dove in, transforming just before hitting the water with Alex following after putting the contraption over his mouth and removing his cloak's collar.

"All of you are +Anima?" Jerry asked and Cooro nodded with a rare serious face.

"So you're a fish +Anima," Alex remarked as he swam with Husky.

"You can speak under water with that thing?" Husky asked and looked at Alex, whose body hadn't changed in the least.

Alex nodded and asked, "I know Cooro's a crow and you're a fish, so what about Senri and Nana? What +Anima are they?"

"Nana's a bat and Senri's a bear. But now isn't the time for chit-chat, we have to find Nana before she runs out of air," Husky said and swam faster, with Alex following with ease.

Soon they found Nana unconscious and air bubbles coming out of her mouth. Alex held out Senri's sword and cut the tentacle, which caused it to release Nana.

"You take Nana back up, I'll hold off the octopus," Alex said and Husky nodded. Husky wrapped his arm around Nana's waist and threw her over his shoulder so her face was to his back. As he swam, Nana-who was still semi-conscious- opened her eyes and could have sworn she saw Alex get hit by one of the tentacles and something come out of his mouth and Alex slowly drown. But she lost all consciousness before she could see anything else.

Husky put Nana on the shore and Cooro and Senri took her out as he transformed back.

"Is she okay?" Cooro asked and Husky put his ear up to Nana's mouth.

"She's not breathing," Husky answered.

"Does that mean she's…" Cooro's voice trailed off unable to say 'dead'.

"No idiot, her heart is still beating so that means she's still alive," Husky said and started to push down on her chest.

"What are you doing?" Cooro asked.

"It's called CPR dummy!" Husky exclaimed and put his ear up to her mouth again.

"Still nothing, damn it all," Husky said and continued pushing.

"Isn't there a second part to CPR? Something about mouth to mouth?" Cooro asked.

"Oh yeah. It's the part where you put your mouth to someone else's to put air in their lungs," Carrie answered.

Husky looked at Nana's pale face and said, "If it's the only way."

"What?!" Carrie and the others, including Cooro but not Senri, exclaimed and Husky started to lean towards Nana.

Just as his lips were about to touch hers, Nana opened her eyes and asked, "Husky…why is your face so close to mine?"

Husky turned red and pushed himself away and looked towards the ocean sputtering gibberish. Nana sat up and widened her eyes.

"Alex!" Nana exclaimed and Husky turned back to her.

"Alex?"

"While you were bringing me up, I saw Alex get knocked out!"

"R-really?" Cooro asked.

"Yeah. Why isn't he here?"

Just then, one of the octopus's tentacles sprang out of the water and headed towards the small group. Senri brought out his bear claw and severed the tentacle before it hit anyone.

"Nice one, Senri," Alex's gasping voice said as he walked towards the group, clutching his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Nana asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. And it looks like you are as well, seeing as you almost drowned. And it also seems Husky's red. I wonder what happened," Alex said coyly and Husky blushed again.

Just then, another tentacle came out of the ocean and was heading strait for Alex. Before it hit, Alex used Senri's sword to cut the tentacle and ended up getting some blood on his cheek and goggles.

"Damn it, why won't it die," Alex cursed silently under his breath and brought out a small bottle.

"What's that?" Carrie asked.

"Poison," Alex answered and poured the liquid into a still moving part of a tentacle.

"Three, two, one," Alex counted and something floated to the surface.

"I-it's the octopus!" Danny exclaimed when he went to see what it was.

"Yeah, that poison spread through its body after I inserted it in that tentacle that was still connected to the octopus," Alex said as he rolled his shoulder back. Just then, Jerry grabbed Alex's cloak and made him face him.

"And the only reason the octopus even came was because you were here. Monster calls monster," Jerry said and punched Alex. But Alex did nothing.

"What was that for? I did nothing except save you," Alex said calmly and Jerry punched him again.

"You son of…You know what, you're not even worth it. Seeing as your nothing but an orphan who's a part time killer. Of course, you're probably only an orphan because you killed your parents." Now it was personal.

Alex's strait face turned in to pure hatred and he scowled. Next, Alex punched Jerry but it was hard enough to make Jerry let go, fall to the ground, and make a small trickle of blood come out.

"You didn't know them! They were good parents to me and my siblings! They tried their hardest even though they-they…" Alex's voice trailed off.

Jerry stood up and said, "I knew it, you are crazy." Alex looked up at him and he continued. "You must have murdered them and you hide your face because the police are after you. That's why you hide your face. Right?"

"You want to see my face. Here it is," Alex said and removed his goggles and bandannas. His appearance stunned everyone except Cooro, Husky, Nana and Senri.

"You see! I have not one scratch on my face! They died because a crazed man did it! I'm just lucky enough to have not died as well! So don't go thinking I did it!" Alex yelled and punched Jerry again before running off.

"Alex looks like a girl," Carrie said in amazement.

"What did he mean by his parents died because of a crazed man?" Danny asked as he helped up in his brother who was in a state of shock.

"When Alex was five, his parents were killed in a fire while he was still five," Husky answered.

"Poor Alex," Carrie said.

"I don't think your giving him enough credit seeing as you did all those things to him when he didn't do anything to you," Cooro said and Carrie, Danny and Jerry looked to the ground full of guilt.

"We should go see if Alex is okay," Nana said and led her friends back to Alex's house.

"I can't believe us. We did all that to Alex instead of being good people and helping him," Jerry said.

"Yeah, remember that one time we saw him in the rain?" Carrie asked and the three were pulled back to the first time they met Alex.

_Flashback_

_Carrie walked under her umbrella with Jerry and Danny when she saw something in the road. When she got closer, she saw it was a human._

"_Are you okay?" Carrie asked and the person looked up at her. The person had a giant collar covering his face, a blue bandanna over his hair, goggles with darkened lenses, and a giant cloak on._

"_Yeah, I'm fine. Just fell," the stranger said and stood up._

"_Hey, aren't you that person who came into the town last week with four girls and two boys?" Jerry asked when he and his brother caught up._

"_Yeah, those were my siblings. By the way, I'm Alex," Alex said._

"_I'm Danny and this is Jerry and Carrie. So, where are your siblings?" Danny asked._

"_They left for another town two days ago. They'll be returning in at least six months, though," Alex answered._

"_Well, I should get going before I catch a cold," Alex said and ran off._

"_I wonder why his siblings left," Carrie said and the group started to come up with multiple things until they came to the conclusion that he scared them away._

_End Flashback_

"I can't believe we were so foolish," Carrie said sadly.

"Yeah, but we can still make up for it. If Alex continues to stay here, we'll be nicer to him," Jerry concluded.

"I don't think it'll be that easy, bro. After all we did to him, he won't be able to forgive us," Danny said and the other two nodded in agreement after awhile.

"Well, I hope he does," Carrie said before she started to walk back to her house.

--

Grace Raven (from behind barricade): One more chapter until I'm done.

**Alex: What are you doing?**

Me: Well, I had Husky almost kiss Nana but didn't make him. I'm going to get killed by the HuskyxNana fans for it!

**Alex: Well you are an evil tease.**

GR: Why yes, yes I am. Either ways, review if you like this chapter and want the story updated.


	19. Finale

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN +ANIMA OR ITS CHARACTERS. BUT I DO OWN ALEX BECAUSE I MADE HIM UP.

**Chapter 19**

Responses to reviews:

Princess Falling Star: Yes, I am an evil tease. And what you saw last chapter was only a little of my evilness (Kidding…).

Jo Ann: I believe we have established that.

Twilinden: BECAUSE I COULD!

Shadow793: Yeah, I got the idea from that chapter. And yes, it shall be embarrassing. Especially if Cooro ever decides to bring it up. (Light bulb appears above head) Hey, I just got an idea.

--

Cooro, Husky, Senri and Nana left the town and were now walking to the next place they would stop.

"Hey! Wait!" someone yelled at them and they turned around to see none other than Alex rushing after them. When he reached the group, he bent over to catch his breath. He was wearing the same thing he was wearing when they first met him, including the goggles and bandannas, and he had a green staff on his back. The staff was about as long as his body and had two snake heads coming out of it. They could also see the hilt of a sword coming out of his cloak.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" Nana asked.

"I couldn't stand staying in that town any longer so I decided I'd go with you guys," Alex answered.

"But what about that staff and sword?" Cooro asked.

"Well I've got to be able to protect myself. Besides, seeing as your all +Anima and I'm just a human, I have to be as strong as the rest of you."

"…So…can I come with?" Alex asked.

**Cooro's P.O.V (one year later, where everyone was in the carriage)**

We agreed to let him come with us and we soon became use to his unusual habits. Such as the fact he was the first or last to go to sleep and always the first awake along with how he usually took his bath after he woke up so he didn't bath with any of us.

"Cooro, snap out of your trance. You can sleep later," Alex said and interrupted my train of thought.

"Gomensai (sorry) I'm coming," I said and slide out of the carriage. Senri was carrying a sleeping Nana in his arms and Husky was waiting impatiently. When I got fully out, the others started to head into the hotel. After we rented a room and everyone was asleep, I was still awake. Alex, who was sleeping next to me, apparently noticed my not sleeping and woke up.

"Cooro, are you okay? You're usually the one who falls asleep after putting his head on the pillow," Alex whispered so he didn't wake the others.

"Alex, do you ever regret not waiting for your siblings and instead coming with us?" I asked and Alex was silent for awhile.

"No, I don't think I am. I patched things up with Jerry, Danny, and Carrie and asked them to tell my siblings I left with you guys if they ever came back. I'm happy here," he answered. With his voice so low, he sounded more like a girl than a guy.

"Really?" I asked and rolled onto my side so I faced him.

"Really. Now go to sleep," Alex whispered and I closed my eyes, eventually falling asleep with Alex, someone I know considered an older brother, next to me.

--

Grace Raven: Thus the end of Meeting Alex. I hope you enjoyed it. Anyone reading this please still review despite the fact that it's over. Also, check out my other story called Meet the Siblings. It's another story about Alex except there's a big surprise about him inside.


	20. Preview of Next Chapter

DISCLAIMER: Do I own Plus Anima? No, no I don't.

**Preview**

It was unmistakable; the noise that was heard was a scream of pure terror. Senri picked Nana up and followed after Cooro and Husky towards the scream. They didn't even notice that Alex wasn't right behind. When they reached the noise, the sight was purely horrific. And the only light, a faint stream of moonlight, was not helping in how creepy the scene was.

In the middle of the room was a dead body surrounded by its own blood. Its face was twisted with unexplainable horror; most of the skin on its body was torn away and its body was twisted, mangled, and looked like most of the bones in its once living body were broken.

"W-wha-what happened?" Nana whispered, the fear in her voice very obvious. Senri set her down and Nana was soon hugged by Husky to help her fear. Senri walked over to the body and reached down.

"Stop it! Don't touch him!" a woman screamed. They looked to the voice and saw it was Ayame with Topher hugging her leg, most definitely scared for his life. Ayame had tears in her eyes and her brown hair was messed up, showing she had recently woken up from sleeping.

"Ayame, is this your grandfather?" Husky asked.

"H-h-hai (yes)," Ayame said timidly and nodded.

"Who could have done this?" Cooro asked aloud as he observed the body from a distance.

"I don't know," Alex's voice said and startled the group seeing as they didn't remember him being there. They turned their heads to him and saw his face was covered in shadows, the clue it was him was his long blue cape.

"There have been two other murders!" Jericho exclaimed as he rushed into the house.

"Really, where?" Alex asked, strangely calm despite the situation.

"Both old man Leon and Red's daughter, Stacy," Jericho answered.

"No, not them," Ayame whispered as she shook her head. Alex walked over to her- his face still hidden in the shadows- and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If we see their bodies, it could help figure out who did this," Alex said.

"That's the problem, there are no bodies," Jericho said solemnly and they all turned their heads to him.

"Well, there are bodies, but they're so messed up that it would be no help in solving the case," Jericho said as he tried to tie back his long red hair.

"Then let me try," Eden's wheezing voice said as she slowly walked into the scene. The sound of her cane the only noise in the dead quiet room as she walked over to the body of the old man. She kneeled down and inspected his neck of all places.

"Well?" Topher asked, his small voice trembling.

"Llenoanima," Eden said.

"What?" Cooro, Husky and Nana asked together.

"The monster that did this is called a llenoanima," Eden answered.

"What's that?" Topher asked with his older sister Ayame.

"I'll tell you in the morning," Eden said and walked out of the room, ending all conversation about the scene. Senri picked Nana up and walked out with everyone else.

Before he left, Alex turned around and asked, "Ayame, Topher, do you want to come with us?"

Ayame and Topher nodded and followed everyone else with Alex right behind them. When Alex walked out, the light of the moon showed exactly why he was hiding in the shadows.

--

Grace Raven: This is a preview of my next story, Monster Plus Anima. This is one of its chapters but when this chapter is posted, there will be more. Please read the story and review it. Though, I must warn you, there will be a lot of blood and violence when the llenoanima comes into the story. Also, if you read the story, you would know why Senri had to keep picking Nana up. O.o……..I'm reading over this and I'm realizing something……………………I'M REALLY CREEPY!


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